You don't have to keep surviving on autopilot. Whether the hardest things happened long ago, far away, or close to home, if the past still controls how you feel, how you sleep, or how close you let people get, therapy can help. Online, schema-based trauma therapy in English or Farsi.
Tina is booking now. Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
If you recognized yourself in any of these, you are not broken. These are normal responses to experiences that overwhelmed your capacity to cope.
Schema therapy goes beneath surface symptoms to address the deep emotional patterns trauma creates. This isn't about quick fixes. It's about understanding why you respond the way you do and changing those patterns from the root.
Trauma healing requires more than talking about what happened. Emotion-focused techniques help you process what's stored in your body and emotions, not just your thoughts. Every session is paced to what feels safe for you.
As an Iranian immigrant herself, Ghazal understands how culture, family systems, and migration shape the experience of trauma. Sessions in English and Farsi, because healing works best in the language your pain lives in.
Trained in both Iran (Kharazmi University) and Canada (Yorkville University), with over a decade of clinical experience. CRPO registered, with a verified Psychology Today profile.
A calm 15-minute conversation to share what you're experiencing and see if working together feels right. No pressure, no forms beforehand.
In early sessions, we explore how trauma has shaped your emotional world: the beliefs, the coping strategies, and the triggers that keep you stuck.
Weekly 60-minute sessions using schema therapy, emotion-focused techniques, and CBT. Always at a pace that feels safe. No rushing, no re-traumatizing.
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. Full fees & insurance details
Visa, Mastercard, Amex, e-Transfer, PayPal, and HSA accepted. Insurance receipts provided after every session.
Healing doesn't require you to be ready for everything, just ready for a first conversation, in Farsi or English.
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 trauma therapy to residents throughout Ontario. Select your city to learn more:
For some Richmond Hill residents, trauma is not only something in the past. Many families here keep close ties to Iran, and when events there make the news, including the upheaval of recent years, people can find themselves sleepless, on edge or flooded with old memories even though they are physically far away. Others carry experiences from before they emigrated that they have rarely spoken about. And plenty of trauma in Richmond Hill, as anywhere, is unrelated to migration: a serious collision on Highway 404, a relationship that turned violent, years of growing up where you were never quite safe.
It helps to know that these reactions have a logic. A nervous system that learned to scan for danger does not switch off because the danger is now on a screen or in the past, and distressing news from afar can reopen responses that seemed long settled. Trauma therapy is not about reliving everything. It is about understanding what your nervous system learned in order to survive, and slowly showing it that it can stand down.
Some people prefer to do this work in Farsi, because that is the language the experience happened in, or because they do not want to explain Iranian context before they can talk about what hurts. Others prefer English precisely because it offers a little distance. Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, works in both languages, pairing schema therapy with methods drawn from emotion-focused therapy and CBT. The pace is yours, and nothing has to be described in detail until you choose to.
Therapy is ongoing work, not emergency care, and it helps to know what else is nearby. In York Region, Your Support Services Network runs a 24/7 community crisis response service by phone, text and chat, and Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital provides hospital-based mental health services. The Women's Support Network of York Region offers 24-hour support after sexual violence, Victim Services of York Region helps in the aftermath of a crime, and Yellow Brick House supports women and children leaving abuse. Weekly therapy can run alongside any of them.
NoorMinds sessions are online, so you can join from home anywhere in Richmond Hill, in York Region north of Thornhill, or elsewhere in Ontario.
Every organization below operates independently of NoorMinds, and several offer help at any hour, something a weekly appointment cannot; use them during therapy or in the days between sessions.
Also serving nearby
Related services