Persian & Farsi Couples Therapist in Cambridge

Cambridge is one of three cities in Waterloo Region, which also takes in four townships and counted about 587,000 people in the 2021 census. The Iranian community here is small. The organized Iranian groups that do exist, such as the Iranian Community of Waterloo Region, draw people from across the region rather than from Cambridge alone. For a Persian couple, that can mean a warm but thin network: a regional community group, a few families you know well, and very few people close by who would understand what your parents expect of your marriage.

A small network has a particular drawback when a relationship is struggling. The people who share your language and culture are often the same people who know your family and would notice if something were wrong, which can make it harder, not easier, to ask for help. Meeting a therapist who sits outside those circles, from your own living room, lets you say what is actually happening without wondering who will hear about it.

Some Cambridge couples are bicultural: one partner raised in Iran or in an Iranian family, the other not. The misunderstandings in these relationships are often quiet ones, such as ta’arof read as insincerity, a parent’s frequent calls read as intrusion, or silence read as agreement. Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, herself an immigrant from Iran, can hold both languages in the room, and sessions can move between English and Farsi so the partner who does not speak Farsi is not left outside the conversation.

Couples who came to Canada by different routes carry their own quiet imbalances: one partner arrived first on a study or work permit, the other followed; one career was paused so the other could start; one family is an hour away and the other is in Iran. Those questions rarely get said out loud, and they deserve a careful place in the conversation.

The work itself combines Emotionally Focused Therapy, which maps the cycle you fall into when you feel disconnected, with Schema Therapy, which looks at the older patterns each of you brings from your family of origin. Because it is online, you do not have to drive to the GTA’s Persian neighbourhoods to find a Farsi-speaking couples therapist, a round trip on the 401 that is hard to sustain week after week. Couples preparing for marriage can use the same sessions to talk through expectations about family, money and where you will live before the wedding rather than after it. If you would prefer a more structured, practical style, Tina Abadi, RP, also offers Emotionally Focused Therapy in Farsi and English. Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, also offers Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples in Farsi and English.

As a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, Ghazal works entirely online, serving couples in Cambridge and anywhere in Ontario, in English and Farsi.