Whether you came to Brampton last year on a study permit or twenty years ago with children, building a life here brings its own grief, pressure and identity questions. Culturally sensitive online psychotherapy, with sessions in English and Farsi, across Ontario.
Roya is booking now. Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
Plenty of newcomers to Brampton land inside a large, established community: relatives who came first, neighbours who speak your language, stores that sell the food you grew up with. That support is real. So is the expectation that can come with it: find work quickly, send money home, sponsor your parents, and never look as if you are struggling. When everyone around you seems to have managed, it is harder to admit that you are adapting on the outside and quietly coming apart on the inside.
Ghazal immigrated to Canada from Iran and has worked with immigrants and refugees from all over the world: the Middle East, South Asia, East Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and beyond. She doesn't just understand the theory. She knows the loneliness of starting over, the grief of distance, and the quiet courage it takes to build a new life.
Therapy that respects your cultural background, family values, and the complexity of navigating two worlds, without pathologizing your experience.
Sessions in English and Farsi (فارسی), or a mix of both. Express yourself in whichever language feels right.
Schema therapy, CBT, and emotion-focused techniques, grounded in research and tailored to your unique story.
Talk about what brought you here, ask questions, and see if it feels right. No pressure.
Together, we'll identify what's weighing on you most and build a path forward using proven therapeutic approaches.
60-minute online sessions from anywhere in Ontario. Consistent, confidential, flexible.
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.
Free 15-minute consultation available. Receipts provided after each session for submission to your extended health insurance plan.
Book a free 15-minute consultation, in English or Farsi, from home in Brampton. No commitment, no pressure.
Or call (647) 699-5142 · WhatsApp · Email
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NoorMinds provides virtual therapy for immigrants to residents throughout Ontario. Select your city to learn more:
Brampton has grown quickly. The 2021 Census counted 656,480 residents, up from 593,638 five years earlier, which put it ninth in size among Canada's municipalities. About half of those residents are immigrants, more of them born in India than in any other country, and Punjabi is the mother tongue of more residents than any language but English. Arriving here often means arriving somewhere that already feels partly familiar.
Obligations cross borders, too. Money sent home each month, parents to sponsor, a family business overseas that still phones in the middle of the night. Carrying those duties while building a life here is an act of love, and it can also leave no room at all for your own needs, your own grief, or the question of whether you are happy.
The pressure runs in both directions across the generations. Grandparents who came through family sponsorship, sometimes to help raise grandchildren, can spend long days at home without friends nearby, a car or much English, while their adult children juggle work, school runs and everyone's expectations. Younger adults who trained or worked abroad may be starting again far below the level they left. Each of those losses is real, even when the move was the right one.
For some younger residents, the road to staying runs through a study permit, then a work permit, then an application for permanent residence. Brampton has been home to a large number of international students in recent years, many of them from Punjab in India, and recent federal limits on new study permits, along with other rule changes, have made that road less predictable. Living with that uncertainty while studying and working is a heavy load. Therapy can't change an immigration outcome, but it can help you carry the waiting without letting it run your whole life.
Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, came to Canada from Iran and has worked with immigrants and refugees from many regions, South Asia among them, using schema therapy, CBT and emotion-focused techniques. Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, also supports people through life transitions and grief. Sessions are online, in English or Farsi, so they can happen around shifts, classes and the time difference with home.
These organizations have no affiliation with NoorMinds; they help with the practical side of settling in Brampton and can sit alongside or between sessions.
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