Culturally sensitive online psychotherapy for Burlington newcomers, and for immigrants who settled here years ago and still feel caught between two worlds. Sessions in English and Farsi, online across Ontario.
Roya is booking now. Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
In the 2021 Census, 30% of Ontario's residents were immigrants, and every city shapes that experience differently. Burlington is an established city that has grown slowly, by only about 2% between 2016 and 2021, and its community calendar is built around long-running events such as the Sound of Music Festival on the waterfront and Ribfest. Newcomers arrive into networks that already exist. That can be welcoming, and it can also mean years of standing politely at the edge of groups whose members have known each other since school. Housing here is expensive by Ontario standards too, and the push to establish yourself financially can crowd out the slower work of feeling at home. Many people spend years adapting on the outside while quietly struggling 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 from home in Burlington, in English or Farsi. 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:
The practical side of settling in Burlington has local help. HMC Connections, the Halton Multicultural Council, helps newcomers across Halton, Burlington included, with settlement and community services. Services like these help with the paperwork of a new life. They are not designed for the other half of it, the part that surfaces at night when the house is quiet: missing your mother's voice, wondering whether you made the right decision, feeling like a smaller, more careful person in English than you were in your first language.
Burlington is becoming more diverse, but you may still be the only person from your country in your office or in your child's classroom. That kind of visibility is tiring. You explain your name, your accent and your food, and you learn which parts of yourself to keep for home. Children often adapt faster than their parents, and families can end up speaking two languages at the same table, with different ideas about what belonging should look like.
Some newcomers also arrive with professional careers that have to be rebuilt: re-qualifying, taking a job below their training, commuting to wherever the first opportunity was. The loss of status is real, and so is the pressure not to complain about it. Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), came to Canada from Iran after her first graduate degree in Tehran and completed further training here at Yorkville University. She works with immigrants from many countries, not only Iran, using Schema Therapy together with attachment- and emotion-focused work to look at the old patterns a move tends to reawaken.
Sessions are online, which matters when evenings are taken up by a second job, a language class or children's activities. You can meet from home anywhere in Burlington, in English, Farsi or a mix of both, and Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, also works with life transitions and grief in both languages.
These are independent organizations, not affiliated with NoorMinds, that newcomers in Burlington may find useful alongside therapy.
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