Culturally sensitive online psychotherapy for newcomers, international students and long-settled immigrants in Oshawa, and for anyone navigating life between two worlds. Sessions in English and Farsi, across Ontario.
Roya is booking now. Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
Oshawa is the largest city in Durham Region and the centre of its own metropolitan area, which also takes in Whitby and Clarington. For generations its identity was the auto plant; today healthcare, education and the trades sit alongside manufacturing. Newcomers arrive here in many ways: some straight from abroad, some after years elsewhere in the GTA, some as students who decide to stay. And yet the experience can be isolating. The larger communities that share your language or faith may be a long way down the 401, and the practical work of building a life can crowd out the emotional work of settling in.
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 anywhere in Oshawa. 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:
For newcomers, Oshawa can make practical sense. Of the GTA's regions, Durham has had the lowest average resale price, though that average still stood at about $900,000 in mid-2025. Oshawa GO, the eastern end of the Lakeshore East line, has two-way, all-day trains to Union Station, so a job interview or a family visit in Toronto stays within reach. The trade-off can be long days, rotating shifts in healthcare or manufacturing, and a first job here that looks nothing like the career you left.
Those pressures sit on top of the quieter parts of migration: grief for the people and places you had to leave, the loss of a professional identity, children who now translate for their parents, and the loneliness of being new where few people share your history. Children often adapt fastest, which can leave parents feeling like newcomers in their own home. When the practical side of settling takes everything, the inner side gets postponed, sometimes for years, and it tends to surface later as exhaustion, irritability or a low mood that won't lift.
Practical help matters, and Durham has settlement services for language, employment and getting established; some are listed below. Psychotherapy is where you look at what the move has stirred up inside you: immigration grief, identity held between two cultures, family expectations across time zones, and the older patterns a big transition can wake. Some people also carry what happened before they left, such as war, persecution or a dangerous journey, and those memories can surface once life finally slows down enough for them to be felt.
Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, made this move herself, from Iran to Canada, and brings that experience to her work alongside schema therapy, CBT and emotion-focused approaches. Sessions are online, in English or Farsi, so they never add a trip across the city to a week that is already full, and if English still feels like a second skin, a session can move into Farsi whenever that is easier.
These are independent organizations, not affiliated with NoorMinds, that newcomers may find useful alongside or between sessions.
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