Culturally sensitive online psychotherapy for newcomers building a life in Ottawa, whether you arrived last month or a decade ago. Sessions in English and Farsi, online across Ontario.
Roya is booking now. Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
Ottawa's immigrants include families who settled here generations ago and people who arrived only recently. And yet the experience of being an immigrant here can still feel isolating. Community takes longer to find than the numbers suggest, and the work of getting established, with housing, credentials, a first Canadian job and a new school system for the children, can crowd out the emotional work of settling in. 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, wherever in Ottawa you have landed. No commitment, no pressure.
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.
NoorMinds provides virtual therapy for immigrants to residents throughout Ontario. Select your city to learn more:
Settling in Ottawa usually starts with practical things: a lease, a health card, school registration, a job search, often with help from settlement agencies such as the Catholic Centre for Immigrants and OCISO, which support immigrants and refugees in the city. That help is essential. What it is not designed to hold is everything happening inside you while the paperwork is being sorted out: the grief, the doubt, the strange mix of relief and loss.
Ottawa also asks something particular of newcomers, which is a second official language. The City serves residents in English and French, and you may find French coming up in job postings, at work and in your children's schooling. For someone already living in a second language, hearing that a third would help can feel like one more exam to pass before life is allowed to begin. Therapy is one place where you can stop performing: sessions at NoorMinds are in English or Farsi, whichever lets you speak most freely.
People arrive in the capital by very different routes. Some come by choice, for study, a job or family. Others come after war, displacement or persecution, sometimes after years of waiting. From the outside these journeys can look alike; from the inside they are not, and therapy needs to respect the difference. Ghazal's approach draws on Schema Therapy and emotion-focused work, and moves at a pace that lets difficult experiences be approached without being forced.
The first Ottawa winter is a milestone many newcomers remember: short days, deep cold, and the discovery that the city carries on regardless, with skaters on the canal and families out in the snow. For some it is exhilarating; for others it is when loneliness hits hardest; often it is both. Online sessions mean you never have to cross the city in January for an appointment. You join from home, whether that is Vanier, Lowertown, Westboro or wherever you have landed.
Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the CRPO, immigrated to Canada from Iran herself, and knows what it is to honour family across an ocean while quietly becoming someone they have not met.
These are independent organizations, not affiliated with NoorMinds, that many newcomers find useful alongside or between sessions.