As she joins our practice, our newest Counsellor, Dr. Sogol Shams reflected on what it means to her to provide therapy in Farsi:
Sometimes, what we need most is simply someone who can understand — not just through words, but through presence.
Someone who speaks the language of our childhood.
Someone who doesn’t need our pain translated.
Someone who can hear the silence between our words and say, “I see you. I get it.”
Immigration is not just a change of address.
It’s a quiet earthquake.
It shakes your roots, carries away pieces of your past, and places you in a new world with unfamiliar rhythms, sounds, and expectations.
And while on the outside, you may seem “adjusted,” inside, a soft whisper begins to echo:
“Who am I now?”
“Where do I belong?”
“Why does my heart still feel unsettled?”
I know that voice.
Not only as a therapist, but as someone who has walked this path myself.
I know what it feels like to carry strength like a burden.
To hold in your tears because you don’t even know how to explain them in a second language.
To miss your mother’s voice, the scent of your old neighborhood, the comfort of being understood without having to explain.
Therapy, for me, is not just about tools or techniques.
It’s about deep, human connection.
It’s about creating a space where you don’t have to be strong.
Where you can rest.
Where your wounds are welcome, not judged.
If you are a newcomer…
If your relationship is struggling under the weight of change…
If your child no longer speaks your language and you feel the distance growing…
If you are tired of being resilient every day…
I am here.
Not just as a therapist.
But as someone who sees you.
Someone who speaks both Farsi and English, and understands what it means to live in between two worlds.
This is a space for you.
For your pain, your hopes, your healing.
Let’s find your way back to yourself — together.