Searching for a Persian or Farsi therapist in Kitchener? Whether you came for school, work or family, talk with someone you don’t have to explain your culture, family pressure, permit worries or immigration grief to, in English or Farsi فارسی, online across Ontario. Three Farsi-speaking therapists, one practice.
Tina and Roya are booking now. Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
Ghazal, Tina and Roya all work in Farsi, so nothing gets lost in translation. Ghazal is also an Iranian immigrant herself: she knows the weight of family expectations, cultural nuance, immigration grief, and living between two worlds from the inside.
Ghazal brings over ten years of clinical experience, graduate training in both Iran and Canada, and advanced schema therapy training. Tina brings structured, skills-first CBT, and Roya brings ACT, DBT and a focus on newcomers. All three bring warmth and rigour to every session.
Anxiety, overthinking, trauma, relationship pain, burnout, immigration stress, study- and work-permit uncertainty, identity conflict, low self-worth, guilt, and boundaries that feel impossible.
Start with a free 15-minute consultation with Ghazal, Tina or Roya. No pressure. Ask questions, get a feel for how your therapist works, and decide if the fit feels right before committing.
You don't need to have it all figured out. Start with a conversation.
Or call (647) 699-5142 · WhatsApp · Email
Speaking Farsi isn't the same as understanding Iranian life. Finding a therapist who actually gets what it means to grow up Iranian is something different: the layered expectations, the specific way silence is used, the pressure to appear strong, the way mental health has historically been discussed (or not discussed) in Persian families.
Ghazal trained in both Iran and Canada. She completed her first graduate degree in Clinical Psychology at Kharazmi University in Tehran, then immigrated to Canada for further training at Yorkville University. That path isn't just a credential. Learn more about Ghazal
For women, the expectation is often to manage inwardly, to be the steady person in the family even when you are not steady at all. Therapy can feel like an admission of failure, something you keep private even from close relatives.
For men, the pressure is different but just as real. Talking about anxiety, grief, or emotional struggle can feel incompatible with how strength has been defined. Many arrive at therapy having spent years convincing themselves that what they were feeling wasn't serious enough to warrant help.
These patterns are not weaknesses. They are cultural inheritances, and Ghazal understands them from the inside, not from a textbook.
Sessions are in Farsi, English, or a natural mix of both, because sometimes the right word only exists in one language.
There is no issue too culturally specific. Sessions are confidential, separate from your family, your community, and anyone else in your life.
You don't have to explain your culture before real work begins. Ghazal's training spans both Iranian and Canadian psychological frameworks. She understands how shame, honour, and loyalty operate differently in Iranian families, and how immigration can simultaneously feel like freedom and like a profound rupture, a grief rarely acknowledged because it doesn't look like the grief people recognize.
If you are ready to start, or even just ready to have a first conversation, the consultation is free. Call (647) 699-5142, message on WhatsApp, or book directly below.
Choose a time in Jane, ask your questions, and get a feel for whether working together feels right.
Sessions are online, so you can join from anywhere in Kitchener or elsewhere in Waterloo Region, and from anywhere else in Ontario.
Together you work beneath surface symptoms to understand patterns, reduce suffering, and build a steadier, more grounded life.
Insurance receipts provided. Many extended health plans cover psychotherapy with a Registered Psychotherapist. Ghazal holds the Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) designation, so please confirm your plan covers it. Full fees & insurance details
Seen the pricing? The free consultation costs nothing, and many insurance plans reimburse full sessions. The hardest part is usually just sending that first message, in Farsi or in English.
Or call (647) 699-5142 · WhatsApp · Email
Many extended health plans in Canada cover psychotherapy by a Registered Psychotherapist. Ghazal holds the Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) designation, so please confirm your plan covers it. Clients receive receipts after sessions for reimbursement.
Booking is simple through Jane. You can start with a free consultation, then schedule full sessions only if the fit feels right.
An Iranian immigrant herself, with over ten years of clinical experience. Schema therapy and psychodynamic work for long-standing patterns, immigration grief and family pressure.
Structured, skills-first CBT for anxiety, ADHD, sleep and life transitions, and Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples.
Warm, culturally responsive care: CBT, ACT and DBT for anxiety, depression, grief and the emotional work of settling in a new country, and EFT for couples.
Ghazal is currently booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks). Tina and Roya are accepting new clients.
Pick a time in Jane App that works for you. No intake forms, no questionnaires. Just choose a slot.
Share what's bringing you here. Ask Ghazal, Tina or Roya anything. No pressure to commit. This call exists to help you decide, nothing more.
If it feels right, book your first full session. If not, there's no follow-up, no awkwardness, no commitment of any kind.
What no one tells you about starting over: the losses that don't have a name, and why they still weigh so much.
Read Article →Supporting yourself while loved ones are in Iran: how to hold your own wellbeing when the people you love are in danger.
Read Article →Book a free 15-minute consultation. No pressure, no commitment. Just a calm first conversation, from wherever you are in Kitchener, with a therapist who understands your language, culture, and emotional reality.
Or 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. You can ask 988 for an interpreter. میتوانید از ۹۸۸ درخواست مترجم کنید.
NoorMinds offers virtual Persian and Farsi-speaking (Iranian) therapy to communities throughout Ontario. Select your city to learn more:
In the 2021 census, about 3,300 Kitchener residents, roughly 1.3 per cent of the city, were counted in the West Asian group, the census category that includes most people of Iranian background. It is a real community, but a small and scattered one. Speaking Farsi in Kitchener can mean hearing it mostly at home or on calls to family, and finding someone to talk to in that language about the things that weigh most can take effort.
If you came to Kitchener to study or for a first job in Canada, you are not the only one: in 2021 about 9,300 residents, 3.7 per cent of the city's household population, were non-permanent residents, a group that includes international students and people on work permits. Life on a permit has its own weight. A future that depends on a document, a family in Iran watching and hoping, and a quiet pressure to make every sacrifice worth it can sit underneath even a good week.
Distance cuts both ways. When something happens in Iran, the news reaches Kitchener at odd hours, and the people around you at work or on campus may not know why you are quiet the next day. Holding worry for family far away while keeping up with a Canadian workload is a particular kind of tiredness, and it deserves room to be spoken about in the language you feel it in.
Community can help alongside therapy. Immigration Waterloo Region lists an Iranian Community of Waterloo Region among its cultural groups, and Nowruz gatherings have been held in Kitchener-Waterloo in past years. For some people those connections are a comfort. For others, in a small community, privacy matters more, and a therapist outside that circle is part of the appeal.
My name is Ghazal Sheikhtaheri. I am a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, and an immigrant from Iran. People sometimes search for an "Iranian psychologist"; my title is psychotherapist, not psychologist, but I understand the wish behind that search: to speak about family expectations, the grief of leaving, or a divided sense of self without first explaining where you come from. My work draws on Schema Therapy and attachment- and emotion-focused methods, looking at the early patterns, often learned in Farsi and in another country, that still shape how you strive, rest and connect.
The practice is entirely online. From Kitchener, that means you don't have to drive to Richmond Hill or North York to work with a Farsi-speaking therapist; you can meet from home or anywhere you have privacy. Tina Abadi, RP, also works in Farsi and English and brings a more structured, skills-first CBT approach, if that suits you better. Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, also works in Farsi and English and uses CBT, ACT and DBT skills, with a focus on newcomers and settling in. I work with clients across Kitchener and anywhere in Ontario.
These independent organizations are not affiliated with NoorMinds, but they can be useful alongside or between our sessions.
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