Whether knowingly or unknowingly, we often bring the same vulnerabilities to therapy that we carry into our other relationships: Do I matter? Can I rely on you? Am I too much, or not enough? Will my pain be met with empathy? Can I trust you? Will you hold space for me?
My role as your therapist is not to act as your teacher or coach you toward an answer. Rather, I aim to co-create a relationship with you that feels corrective, reparative, and reliable. I strive to enter our work with adamant curiosity about your experience rather than assumptions about what you need, while remaining attentive to my own projections, biases, and reactions. I will both witness and actively participate in your self-exploration, holding empathy for all the parts of you, including the parts that you may not yet have the capacity to hold on your own. And when I inevitably miss the mark or my own humanity seeps in, I hope to engage in repair in ways that enrich your connection to yourself and to those who matter to you.
I mainly draw from experiential, psychodynamic, existential, attachment-focused and trauma-informed approaches. At the heart of these approaches lies the belief that we cannot fully understand ourselves in isolation. Our inner self-experience is continually shaped by our relationships with our external world, including our important others, sociopolitical systems, and the physical environments and lands we inhabit. In turn, our self-perception and meaning-making influence how we relate to, respond to, and participate in the world around us.
This creates a kind of complexity that cannot be reduced to quick fixes or contained within a rigid formula. Therapy can be messy, sticky, disorienting, and at times deeply uncomfortable. There may be moments when things feel less clear before they begin to make more sense. Meaningful therapeutic work is not about eliminating pain, but about developing a greater capacity to remain open to the full spectrum of human experience, without becoming consumed or defined by it.
As a queer Iranian woman, I am especially committed to supporting other 2SLGBTQ and BIPOC individuals, and those navigating intersecting identities and experiences related to immigration or displacement, intergenerational trauma, and non-conforming or unconventional life paths. My hope is not that you will merely adjust to the conditions that were imposed on you, but that you will forge a path that is uniquely yours. One that honours your lived experience and the inherent wisdom in the stories you carry.
I hold a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University and a Bachelor of Kinesiology from the University of Toronto. I am a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) and a member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). My professional background includes crisis response work with the national suicide crisis helpline, as well as extensive experience in medical and community-based settings. As part of my commitment to reflective and ethical practice, I engage in my own personal therapy and ongoing clinical supervision.
