Culturally sensitive online psychotherapy for newcomers to Pickering, and for those who arrived long ago and are still living between two worlds. Sessions in English and Farsi, online across Ontario.
Roya is booking now. Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
At the 2021 Census, 36.3% of Pickering residents were immigrants, so moving here from another country is a familiar story. That does not always make it easier for the newest arrivals, who can feel that everyone around them has already worked it out. Housing in Durham Region costs less than in Toronto but is still expensive, and the pressure to establish yourself 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, in English or Farsi, from wherever you are in Pickering. 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:
Pickering is a city of many origins. In 2021 its largest racialized groups were South Asian (21.2% of residents), Black (11.4%) and Filipino (4.1%) residents. For someone who arrived recently, that can be a comfort: places of worship, grocery stores and neighbours who understand at least part of the journey. It can also sharpen a particular loneliness, the feeling of being behind people who share your background but not your stage of life, and of being asked, kindly, why you have not settled in yet.
Some people choose Pickering for more room than they could afford in Toronto while keeping a job on the other side of the city line, and the daily trip becomes part of settling in. When the day goes to getting to work, doing the work and getting home, the emotional side of immigration waits: homesickness that arrives at odd moments, calls with family abroad squeezed into a time-zone gap, a career that restarted several rungs down, children adapting faster than their parents, a marriage recalibrating around new roles.
Therapy is a place for that side. Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, came to Canada from Iran and has worked with immigrants and refugees from many parts of the world. Her work draws on Schema Therapy along with attachment- and emotion-focused approaches, and helps people make sense of grief, identity and family change without treating the experience of migration as a disorder. The article on the hidden grief of immigration describes losses many newcomers recognize but rarely name.
Practical help, from paperwork to job searches, is available through local agencies such as those listed below, and the two kinds of support can run side by side. A settlement worker can help you with the steps; therapy can help with what those steps cost you, and with the version of yourself that is still catching up.
Sessions are online, so you can meet from home anywhere in Pickering, from the north end of the city to the streets around Frenchman's Bay, without adding another trip to your week. They are available in English or Farsi.
Each organization below is independent and has no connection to NoorMinds; newcomers in Pickering may find them helpful alongside therapy or between appointments.
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