Culturally sensitive online psychotherapy for those navigating life between two worlds, in a city where most of your neighbours made a similar journey. Sessions in English and Farsi. Available in Markham and across Ontario.
Roya is booking now. Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
Markham was largely built by people who started somewhere else, and on paper that should make settling easier: your neighbours, your colleagues and the parents at your child's school may all have made a similar move. Often it does help. But a shared experience is not the same as being known, and the pressure to establish yourself financially can crowd out the emotional work of arriving. Many newcomers 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, 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:
In most places, being an immigrant sets you apart. In Markham it is the majority experience. The 2021 Census counted about 197,500 immigrants, 58.6% of residents in private households. The two largest communities are Chinese (47.9% of residents) and South Asian (17.6%), alongside Black, West Asian, Filipino, Korean and many other communities.
A majority-immigrant city does not guarantee that your own community is large. If you come from a smaller group, you can be surrounded by people who also started over and still be the only one in the room who knows your language, your holidays or the history you left. In 2021, residents who identified as West Asian, the census group that includes people of Iranian background, were 2.9% of the city, and many other groups are smaller still.
That can be a real comfort. You can find your food, your language and people who understand why you left. It can also make your own difficulty harder to justify to yourself. If everyone around you seems to have managed, the grief of leaving, the loneliness of the first winters, or the sense of being a slightly different person in English than in your first language can start to feel like a private failure rather than an ordinary part of migration.
Work is often where it hurts most. Markham is a well-educated city: in 2021 about 27% of residents aged 15 and over held a bachelor's degree as their highest credential, and another 8% a master's. For people whose degrees and experience were earned in another country, the distance between the career you trained for and the job you have now can carry years of quiet frustration, especially when relatives back home keep asking how the engineering job is going.
Therapy does not replace settlement help. The Welcome Centre and the other organizations below handle language classes, job search and paperwork, and they matter. What therapy offers is a place for the parts of immigration that do not fit on a form: identity, family roles that shifted in the move, and grief that sometimes arrives years later. Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, immigrated from Iran herself and works with Schema Therapy, CBT and emotion-focused methods, in English or Farsi, online for anyone in Markham or elsewhere in Ontario. The work can matter as much ten or twenty years after landing as it does in the first year.
These agencies operate independently of NoorMinds and handle the practical side of settling in, which therapy is not designed to replace, and they can be used alongside or between sessions.
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