Nearly half of Vaughan's residents are immigrants. Culturally sensitive online psychotherapy for anyone living between two worlds, whether you arrived last year or decades ago. Sessions in English and Farsi, for people in Vaughan and across Ontario.
Roya is booking now. Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
In the 2021 Census, 46.4% of Vaughan residents were immigrants, and another 1.9% were non-permanent residents such as people on study or work permits and refugee claimants. The city's migration story runs across generations, from long-established Italian families to newer arrivals from South Asia, China, Iran and many other places. Being surrounded by people who also came from elsewhere can make settling easier. It can also make struggling harder to admit, because it seems everyone else managed. 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. 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:
Settling in Vaughan often means settling in at a price. In 2021 more than half of Vaughan's renter households (50.4%) put at least 30% of their income toward housing, and owned homes had a median value of about $1.2 million. For a newcomer family, that pressure arrives alongside everything else: credentials not yet recognized, a first Canadian job that uses a fraction of your training, relatives back home who assume you have already made it. The push to establish yourself quickly can leave no room at all for the slower work of grieving what you left.
Practical help is close by. Vaughan has a Welcome Centre offering settlement, language and employment support, and Catholic Community Services of York Region provides settlement services and counselling to people of every background and faith. Those services handle forms, courses and job searches. Therapy sits beside them as a place for what a settlement worker is not there to hold: the loneliness, the shift in roles within your marriage, the feeling of being a slightly different person in each language.
Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, immigrated to Canada from Iran and has worked with immigrants and refugees from the Middle East, South Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and beyond. Her approach draws on Schema Therapy, CBT and emotion-focused techniques, and it does not treat your culture as something to be fixed. In families that have been here for two or three generations, the work often centres on the gap between a parent who arrived with one set of rules and a child who grew up with another.
Sessions are online and 60 minutes long, in English or Farsi. There is no office to find and nothing to travel to at the end of a day that may already hold a commute, a language class or a second job, and you are welcome to start with a free 15-minute consultation.
Independent organizations, not affiliated with NoorMinds, that newcomers in Vaughan often use alongside or between therapy sessions.
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