Persian & Farsi Couples Therapist in Waterloo

Some Iranian couples come to Waterloo because one partner was accepted into a graduate program or offered a job at a technology or finance firm, and the other followed. The move can be a shared adventure and a quiet imbalance at the same time: one partner has a lab, a team and a clear reason to be here, while the other may be waiting on a work permit, retraining, or starting again from nothing.

Temporary status adds its own strain. When a study or work permit sets the timeline, plans for children, a home or a trip back to Iran can all feel provisional. Uncertainty tends to show up in a marriage sideways, as irritability, withdrawal or arguments about small things, rather than as an open conversation about fear.

Waterloo Region's Iranian community is modest in size: the region's newcomer directory lists one community group, the Iranian Community of Waterloo Region, and the relatives who might once have mediated a marriage are an ocean away. For many couples that means working things out alone, sometimes in a second language, with no one nearby who knows both families.

In mixed couples the work is often as much about translation as about conflict: one partner explaining why a phone call from a mother-in-law matters so much, the other explaining why it feels like an intrusion. Either partner can speak in whichever language comes easiest, and the session follows.

Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, an Iranian immigrant and a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, works with Emotionally Focused Therapy and Schema Therapy to reach the attachment fears and family patterns beneath the surface quarrel. Tina Abadi, RP, and Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, also provide EFT for couples in both languages. Sessions are online, so neither of you has to leave home in Waterloo after a long day in the lab or the office.