I.
Emotions that take over
Feelings that go from calm to overwhelming before you can think. Skills for noticing the wave early and riding it out.
DBT · Online across Ontario · English & فارسی
DBT Therapy in Kitchener
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy skills, for emotions that arrive fast and stay loud. Roya brings DBT’s four skill sets into individual therapy: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. Online for clients in Kitchener and across Ontario.
Free 15-minute consultation, in English or Farsi.
What DBT Skills Can Help With
When a feeling gets ahead of you.
II.
Getting through the hardest hours
Distress-tolerance skills for moments when everything feels like too much, so you have something to reach for that doesn't make it worse.
III.
Relationships under strain
Asking for what you need, saying no, and keeping your self-respect when conversations get hard.
IV.
Anxiety, low mood and self-worth
Mindfulness and acceptance practices alongside the CBT work Roya uses for anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.
How Roya Uses DBT
Skills inside individual therapy, in Roya's words.
Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP
I'm Roya, a Registered Psychotherapist with a Master of Arts in Psychology and over 10 years in the mental health field. I'm trained in DBT, and I draw on its skills inside individual therapy, online. Once we know where to start, each session builds a skill, and between sessions you practise it in the situations that matter to you. I combine DBT with CBT, ACT and mindfulness-based work, and with a culturally responsive understanding of where you come from.
This is DBT-informed individual therapy. It is not a comprehensive DBT programme, which also includes skills groups, between-session phone coaching and a clinician consultation team.
The skills aren't a way to stop feeling. They're a way to stay with a feeling long enough that it doesn't choose the next action for you.
Imagine a message from someone close to you lands wrong, and within a minute you're halfway through a reply you'll regret. A distress-tolerance skill doesn't argue with the hurt or pretend it's small. The idea is to give you something to do for the next few minutes, so the reply can wait until the feeling has come down enough for you to choose what to send.
Therapy isn't about changing who you are or telling you how to live. It's a safe, non-judgmental space to explore, process, and find new ways forward.
What a Session Looks Like
One hard moment, one skill at a time.
The work can start with one kind of moment that keeps getting away from you.
I.
First, a free 15-minute call
Pick a time with me on Jane, the secure system the practice uses for scheduling, and we'll talk by video or phone. It's a good time to ask anything about how I work, including whether working on DBT skills with me fits what you're dealing with.
II.
Session one: getting started
We begin with confidentiality: what stays private and where the legal limits are. After that it's a conversation rather than an interview, and you don't have to tell me everything at once. If you're ready to, we can start to look at the moments that are hardest for you: what sets the feeling off, how quickly it climbs and what you tend to do next. Over the first few sessions, that can help us choose which of DBT's four skill sets to start with.
III.
Once the starting point is clear
Each session is 60 minutes over secure video, in English, in Farsi or moving between the two. A session might take one hard moment from your week: we slow it down and find the skill that would have helped there. Then we practise it together.
IV.
Between sessions, and the pace
Between sessions, you try the skill in the places it's meant for: at work, at home, in your relationships. Some weeks the feeling may get there before the skill does, and that's useful too: it shows us which moment to slow down next time. We check in on progress together and set the pace as we go.
An Honest Fit
When DBT skills fit, and when something else will.
It may suit you if
- You know the sequence well: something small happens, the feeling climbs within minutes, and you say or do something you later wish you hadn't.
- In those moments there's no room to think it through, and you want something practical to do right then, not only an understanding of why it happens.
- You'd rather learn and practise these skills one-to-one, at your own pace.
- Anxiety, low mood or low self-worth are part of it too, and you'd like DBT skills alongside CBT, ACT and mindfulness-based work.
- You're willing to practise between sessions, even in small ways.
- You'd like to work in English, Farsi or a mix of both, online from anywhere in Ontario, including as a newcomer still settling in.
Something else may fit better if
- You're in crisis or unsafe right now. Skills practice can wait; your safety can't. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, available 24/7.
- A doctor or another clinician has told you that you need the full DBT treatment, not individual sessions alone. I bring DBT skills into individual therapy, which isn't the same thing; your family doctor or nurse practitioner can help you find options for the full treatment. If you're not sure which you need, ask me in the free consultation and I'll tell you plainly.
- You'd prefer to meet in person. Every session with me is online, by secure video, from wherever you have privacy in Ontario.
- The strain is mostly between you and a partner, and you'd both like to come. Couples therapy may fit better, and I also see couples, using Emotionally Focused Therapy.
- The hard moments feel like part of an older pattern, and you'd like to understand where it began, not only how to get through it. That is the territory of schema therapy, which at NoorMinds is the work of Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, RP (Qualifying), who is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks). Her page, Schema Therapy in Ontario, is linked below.
Not sure where you fit? The free consultation is partly for working that out. If worry, overthinking or low mood is what weighs on you most, rather than feelings that surge, CBT or ACT may suit you better; I use both, and we can choose together on the call. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, available 24/7. You can ask 988 for an interpreter. میتوانید از ۹۸۸ درخواست مترجم کنید.
DBT in Farsi
رفتاردرمانی دیالکتیکی، به فارسی
من رویا هستم، رواندرمانگر ثبتشده، با بیش از ده سال سابقهی کار در حوزهی سلامت روان. در رفتاردرمانی دیالکتیکی آموزش دیدهام و چهار مهارت اصلی آن را در جلسههای فردی با شما تمرین میکنم: ذهنآگاهی، تحمل پریشانی، تنظیم هیجان و اثربخشی بینفردی. این مهارتها برای این نیستند که دیگر چیزی حس نکنید؛ برای ایناند که بتوانید آنقدر کنار یک احساس بمانید که آن احساس بهجای شما تصمیم نگیرد. وقتی معلوم شد از کجا شروع کنیم، در هر جلسه روی یک مهارت کار میکنیم و تا جلسهی بعد، آن را در موقعیتهایی که برایتان مهم است تمرین میکنید.
این کار درمان فردی است، نه یک برنامهی جامع رفتاردرمانی دیالکتیکی. اگر به حمایتی بیشتر از این نیاز داشته باشید، این را در همان مشاورهی رایگان ۱۵ دقیقهای صادقانه به شما میگویم. جلسهها فقط آنلاین برگزار میشوند و از هر جای انتاریو که باشید، میتوانیم به فارسی، انگلیسی یا ترکیبی از هر دو کار کنیم. لازم نیست پیش از شروع، همهچیز برایتان روشن باشد؛ کافی است برای یک مشاورهی رایگان با من وقت بگیرید. اگر در خطر فوری هستید، با ۹۱۱ تماس بگیرید. اگر در بحران هستید، با ۹۸۸ تماس بگیرید یا به این شماره پیامک بزنید. میتوانید از ۹۸۸ درخواست مترجم کنید.
Also at NoorMinds
Prefer a more structured, skills-first approach? Tina Abadi, RP offers CBT, in English and فارسی.
Related Care
Explore related care
ACT Therapy in Ontario
When the hard part is less a feeling that surges and more the fight with your own thoughts: making room for them, and moving toward what matters to you.
CBT Therapy in Ontario
When you'd like to work on the thoughts and habits that keep a pattern going, in a structured way, with Tina or Roya.
Meet Roya
Her background and the rest of what she works with: anxiety, grief and life transitions, newcomers settling in, and couples, through Emotionally Focused Therapy.
Anxiety Therapy in Ontario
When worry and overthinking are the main thing, more than feelings that flare up and take over.
Depression Therapy in Ontario
When a low mood that flattens a week is the main reason you're looking for help.
Therapy for Immigrants in Ontario
When the big feelings are tied up with starting over in a new country, and culture shock or settlement stress is part of the load.
Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples in Ontario
For the two of you together: Roya also works with couples, using Emotionally Focused Therapy.
Schema Therapy in Ontario
When the hard moments seem to grow from an older pattern you want to understand at its root.
Therapy Cost & Insurance in Ontario
How receipts and extended health plans work, and what OHIP doesn't cover, before you book with Roya.
Fees
Straightforward and stated upfront
Free15-min consultation
$180Individual · 60 min
Insurance receipts provided after every session. Roya Dadollahi Sarab is a fully Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO #008767), and many extended health plans in Canada cover psychotherapy with a Registered Psychotherapist; please confirm the details with your insurer. NoorMinds does not currently offer direct insurance billing. You pay for the session and submit your receipt for reimbursement.
Questions
Common questions
Is this a full DBT programme?
No. Roya offers DBT-informed individual therapy: she teaches and practises DBT skills with you in one-to-one sessions. A comprehensive DBT programme also includes a weekly skills group, phone coaching between sessions and a consultation team. If that's what you need, she will say so in your free consultation.
What is DBT, and how is it different from CBT or ACT?
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) teaches four sets of skills for emotions that take over. Mindfulness: noticing what you feel before you act on it. Distress tolerance: getting through the hardest moments without making them worse. Emotion regulation: catching the wave early and riding it out. Interpersonal effectiveness: asking for what you need, or saying no, while keeping your self-respect. CBT works on changing unhelpful thoughts, and ACT on changing your relationship with them; DBT skills add concrete tools for intense emotions. Roya uses all three, and you can talk through which to start with in your free consultation with her.
Who is DBT skills work a good fit for?
People whose emotions feel intense, fast or hard to come down from, and who want concrete tools for those moments, in relationships, at work or alone.
Can I do DBT therapy in Farsi?
Yes. Roya works in English and Farsi (فارسی), online across Ontario.
Do I need a diagnosis or a referral to start?
No. You can begin psychotherapy with a Registered Psychotherapist without a referral or a diagnosis. Registered Psychotherapists, Roya included, don't diagnose medical conditions or prescribe medication, so if you want an assessment or medication, that's a conversation for your physician. Some insurance plans want a physician's referral before they'll reimburse, so it's worth checking yours.
How long does it take, and how soon can I start?
There's no minimum commitment and no fixed number of sessions. It depends on what you're working on, and you and Roya review progress together and decide on the pace. Roya is accepting new clients, and her calendar is live on Jane, so booking a free 15-minute consultation with Roya is the quickest way to see actual times. If you message first, you'll hear back within one business day.
How much does it cost, and is it covered?
$180 for a 60-minute individual session, after a free 15-minute consultation. Roya is a Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO #008767), and many extended health plans cover psychotherapy with a Registered Psychotherapist. Receipts are provided after every session; check your plan. Psychotherapy with a Registered Psychotherapist in private practice is not covered by OHIP.
What if I'm in crisis?
Therapy is for ongoing support, not emergencies, and calls and messages to NoorMinds aren’t monitored for emergencies. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, available 24/7.
Next Step
Steady skills for big feelings.
Book a free 15-minute consultation with Roya. No commitment, no pressure.
Book with RoyaOr call (647) 699-5142 · WhatsApp · Email
Calls and messages aren’t monitored for emergencies. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, available 24/7.
DBT Therapy Across Ontario
NoorMinds provides online DBT skills, within individual therapy, throughout Ontario. Select your city to learn more:
Kitchener
DBT skills and life in Kitchener
Two days before the schedule at a Kitchener plant rotates a worker onto nights, nothing has gone wrong yet, and that calm is a good moment for DBT-informed preparation. Short sleep tends to shrink the space between a small annoyance and a big reaction, so steadying the body comes first, practised now, on an ordinary afternoon, until it feels familiar. A cold cloth pressed to the face, feet planted on the floor, breathing slowed to an easy count. Next comes a short list of personal early warnings, the signals that arrive before the temper does: a clenched jaw at the kitchen table, perhaps, or a radio that suddenly seems far too loud. A plain name for the state joins the list, worn thin. Then one request goes out while things are calm: for my first week on nights, could mornings at home stay quiet until I've slept? On that first short-sleep day the task is modest: catch one sign early, name it, and reach for a skill already rehearsed.
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