Farsi Therapist Vancouver — Bilingual Persian Counselling & Therapy

Dr. Samuel Ezzatilord, PhD, RCC, CCC, LMCC is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) and doctor offering bilingual Farsi and English therapy in Vancouver. He provides culturally informed counselling for Iranian, Persian, and Farsi-speaking individuals, couples, and families — with deep understanding of the unique stressors facing the Iranian-Canadian community.

Sessions are available in Farsi (Persian), English, and Kurdish, in person in downtown Vancouver and online across British Columbia.

Why Farsi-Speaking Therapy Matters

Finding a therapist who speaks your language — literally and culturally — makes a profound difference. Many Iranian Canadians carry the weight of immigration trauma, cultural stigma around mental health (آبرو), generational conflict between traditional values and Canadian life, and grief for family left behind. These experiences are rarely understood by therapists who lack cultural context.

Dr. Samuel works with:

• Immigration and settlement stress — adjusting to life in Canada, identity conflicts, loss of status and community
• Trauma and PTSD — including trauma related to political persecution, war, or forced migration
• Anxiety and depression — including culturally specific expressions and presentations
• Family and couples conflict — navigating different generational and cultural values within Iranian-Canadian families
• ADHD and neurofeedback — including culturally sensitive assessment and brain-based treatment
• Grief and loss — including long-distance grief for parents and family overseas
• Bicultural identity — navigating Iranian and Canadian identity, belonging, and shame
• Men’s mental health — providing a safe space for Iranian men who face cultural barriers to seeking help

About Dr. Samuel

Dr. Samuel Ezzatilord, PhD, RCC, CCC, LMCC holds a Doctorate in Health Sciences and a post-doctoral Master’s in Counselling Psychology. He is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC) and a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). He also serves as a Senior Mental Health Counsellor with a BC health authority.

As an Iranian-Canadian himself, Dr. Samuel brings both professional expertise and lived cultural understanding to his practice. He understands the shame and stigma that often surround mental health in Iranian communities, and works to create a space where clients feel truly seen — without judgment, and without the fear that their struggles will define them in their community.

Therapy Approaches Used

Dr. Samuel integrates evidence-based approaches tailored to each client’s needs and cultural background:

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) — for trauma and PTSD
• CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) — for anxiety, depression, and negative thought patterns
• Neurofeedback — a non-medication brain-based treatment for ADHD, trauma, anxiety, and sleep
• Somatic and body-based therapy — addressing how trauma lives in the body
• Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) — for couples work and attachment
• Culturally informed and narrative therapy — honoring your story, values, and identity

Serving the Iranian-Canadian Community in Vancouver

Vancouver is home to one of the largest Iranian diaspora communities in North America. Despite this, Farsi-speaking mental health professionals remain scarce — and those with doctoral-level training and neurofeedback specialization even rarer. Dr. Samuel’s practice bridges this gap, offering the full spectrum of mental health services in Farsi to the Iranian, Persian, Afghani, and Kurdish communities of Metro Vancouver.

Many clients find this page by searching for an Iranian therapist in Vancouver rather than a Farsi-speaking one — and the difference matters. Language is only part of it: what shapes the work is lived familiarity with migration grief, the generational gap between parents raised in Iran and children raised in Canada, and the weight of aabroo when asking for help. Sessions run in Farsi, English, or both — whichever language your story lives in.

Dr. Samuel is affiliated with:

• BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC)
• Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA)
• BC Health Authority
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
• Shifa Therapy Network
• Sun Life Lumino Health
• FNHA (First Nations Health Authority) provider
• ICBC provider

Insurance and Coverage

Many extended health benefit plans cover Registered Clinical Counsellors. Dr. Samuel direct-bills Sun Life, ICBC, FNHA, and Shifa Therapy. Receipts are provided for all other insurers. Please contact us to confirm your coverage before your first session.

Book a Free Consultation

Dr. Samuel offers a free 20-minute phone consultation — in Farsi or English — to discuss your needs and whether his approach is the right fit. There is no obligation and no commitment. Call, text, or WhatsApp directly: 6047210604.

Located at Suite 1300, 1500 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC — with online sessions available across BC.

Request a free call back online →

Related Services

Dr. Samuel offers the following services in English and Farsi: individual therapy, couples and family therapy, neurofeedback therapy, EMDR therapy, ADHD therapy, and trauma therapy. For Iranian-Canadian specific resources: stigma and âbroo, bicultural identity, and therapy confidentiality for Iranian Canadians.

And no — your problem doesn’t need to be a crisis to belong here. Most of the people Samuel sees are simply tired, stuck, or quietly carrying something heavy.

Fees and expenses are covered by ICBC, CVAP, FNHA, IFHP, RCMP, VAC, and most other insurers, and direct billing is available.

Frequently Asked Questions — Farsi-Speaking Therapist in Vancouver

Is there a Farsi-speaking therapist in Vancouver who takes extended health?

Yes. Samuel Ezzatilord, PhD, RCC, CCC, LMCC, is a Registered Clinical Counsellor who runs sessions fully in Farsi, fully in English, or moving between the two, in person at 1300–1500 West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver and by secure video anywhere in British Columbia. Fees and expenses are covered by ICBC, CVAP, FNHA, IFHP, RCMP, VAC, and most other insurers, and direct billing is available.

What kinds of problems do Farsi-speaking clients bring?

The same as everyone — couples and family conflict, anxiety, low mood, trauma, ADHD and focus — plus the layer that comes with migration: family expectations across two countries, honour and آبرو, in-laws, raising children between two cultures, grief for parents far away, and the habit of holding everything together. Couples and family work is the largest part of the practice.

Why does it matter that the therapist speaks Farsi and understands the culture?

Because some things do not translate — the weight of a family obligation, the meaning of a silence, why a decision that looks simple in English is impossible in practice. Working in your first language means you spend the session on the problem, not on translating your own life. Samuel understands the Iranian context from the inside and works with it as a real variable, not an excuse.

Is it confidential within the Iranian community?

Yes, and this is taken seriously. Nothing leaves the practice without your written consent, sessions can be by video from home for anyone who would rather not be seen entering an office, and discretion about who is attending is treated as part of confidentiality. Vancouver’s Iranian community is small; Samuel has worked in it for years without that becoming a problem for clients.

Do you offer couples therapy in Farsi?

Yes — including sessions where one partner prefers Farsi and the other English, which is common in mixed and second-generation couples. The work is built on the Gottman Method and Internal Family Systems (IFS). See couples and family therapy and this post on couples who settled into Canada at different speeds.

Do you offer EMDR, IFS and neurofeedback training in Farsi?

Yes. Every service in the practice — trauma therapy with EMDR, IFS, CBT, ADHD counselling and neurofeedback training — is available in Farsi. Many clients find that a memory formed in Persian processes more completely in Persian.

Are Farsi sessions covered the same way as English ones?

Yes. Language makes no difference to coverage. Registered Clinical Counsellor sessions are covered by most extended health plans and direct-billed; ICBC covers counselling after a crash; eligible newcomers may be covered through IFHP. Samuel confirms your coverage on the free call, in Farsi if you prefer.

Can I see you if I live outside Vancouver — Coquitlam, North Vancouver, or elsewhere in BC?

Yes. Many Farsi-speaking clients from the North Shore, Coquitlam and the Tri-Cities come in person, and secure video sessions are available anywhere in British Columbia. Evening and weekend times are available.

What is Samuel’s background?

Twenty-five years of clinical work — refugee-camp trauma work with the International Red Crescent, veterans’ mental-health programs, and hospital care within a BC health authority — before private practice in Vancouver, plus a doctorate-level understanding of sleep, medication and physiology. He answers his own phone and keeps a small caseload on purpose.

How do I start?

With a free 20-minute phone call directly with Samuel — no receptionist, no forms. Call or WhatsApp 604-721-0604 or text a single line in Farsi or English and he will call you back within a day. جلسات به فارسی برگزار می‌شود.