Whatever you’ve been carrying — you can set it down here
Anxiety that won’t switch off. A low mood that has dimmed everything. Something from the past you’ve never told anyone. Trouble focusing, sleeping, or just feeling like yourself. You don’t have to white-knuckle through it alone.
Book your free 20-minute call
No forms. Just say “I saw your website.”
First 20 minutes free · No forms · You talk directly to Dr. Samuel
RCC · CCC · PhD | Covered by ICBC · FNHA · CVAP · VAC · RCMP & most insurers | English · فارسی
Does this sound like you?
- Your mind races, or you feel on edge for no clear reason.
- You’ve lost interest in things that used to matter to you.
- Something from your past still has a grip on the present.
- You’re burned out, exhausted, or stretched far too thin.
- You’re adjusting to a new country, role, or chapter and feel unmoored.
How therapy helps
We work at your pace, in English or Farsi, using approaches with real evidence behind them — CBT, EMDR, and trauma-focused work — matched to what you’re actually facing. As an Iranian-Canadian counsellor with frontline and humanitarian experience, I understand both the clinical side and the cultural weight you may be carrying. When it fits, neurofeedback is available as an optional add-on to help your progress along — never required.
Explore by topic
Trauma Therapy & Counselling →
Trauma & PTSD — FAQs →
ADHD & Focus Issues →
Difficult Life Transitions →
Stress & Burnout →
Workplace Stress & Burnout →
OCD — FAQs →
Bipolar Disorder — FAQs →
Anger & Emotional Regulation →
Perfectionism & Self-Esteem →
Men’s Mental Health →
Women’s Mental Health →
LGBTQ Mental Health →
Aging & Mental Health →
Therapy that understands the Iranian-Canadian experience
Iranian Immigration Trauma →
Migration Grief for Iranian-Canadians →
Bicultural Identity →
Aabroo, Stigma & Therapy →
Therapy & Iranian-Islamic Culture →
Confidentiality for Iranian-Canadians →
Difficult Life Transitions — FAQs →
You don’t have to be sure. You just have to start.
A free, confidential 20-minute call. No pressure, no commitment — just a real conversation.
Book your free call
Call now — 6047210604
جلسات فردی به زبان فارسی نیز ارائه میشود. به فارسی ادامه دهید ←
First 20 minutes free · No forms · You talk directly to Dr. Samuel
RCC · CCC · PhD | Covered by ICBC · FNHA · CVAP · VAC · RCMP & most insurers | English · فارسی
What Individual Therapy Actually Addresses
Individual therapy at Dr. Samuel’s practice is not a generic process. Each person comes with a different history, a different neurological profile, and a different set of needs. Depending on what you bring, sessions may focus on processing past trauma using EMDR, regulating the nervous system through neurofeedback, working through anxiety or depression with evidence-based cognitive approaches, or simply having a dedicated space to think out loud with someone who listens without agenda.
Common presentations include: anxiety and panic — persistent worry, social anxiety, panic attacks, or the low-grade tension that never fully lifts. Depression — not just sadness but the flatness, fatigue, and disconnection that make it hard to feel present in your own life. PTSD and trauma — intrusive memories, hypervigilance, emotional shutdown, and the ways past experiences keep shaping the present. ADHD — difficulty with focus, time, emotional regulation, and the shame that accumulates around chronic underperformance. Life transitions — career changes, immigration, relationship endings, grief, or any period when the identity you had no longer fits. See: EMDR Therapy Vancouver | ADHD Therapy Vancouver | Trauma Therapist Vancouver.
The Approaches Used in Individual Therapy
Dr. Samuel draws on a range of evidence-based modalities and integrates them based on your presentation: EMDR for trauma and PTSD. CBT for anxiety, depression, and patterns of thought that maintain distress. Somatic therapy for the body-held dimensions of trauma and stress. EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) for attachment and relational patterns. Neurofeedback for neurological dysregulation underlying ADHD, anxiety, trauma, or sleep. This is an integrative practice — the approach is built around your needs, not the other way around.
Individual Therapy in Farsi
Dr. Samuel offers individual therapy in English and Farsi. For many clients — particularly those navigating immigration stress, political trauma, bicultural identity, or family conflict within an Iranian-Canadian context — working in Farsi is not just a comfort, it is clinically important. Language shapes how we store and access emotional experience. See: Farsi Therapist Vancouver | Counselling for the Iranian-Canadian Community.
Why people choose this practice
The same clinician BC’s community mental-health system trusts with its hardest cases — available to you directly, in English or Farsi.
Doctorate-level depth, a therapist’s ear
Doctorate in Health Sciences, with credentials verified by the Medical Council of Canada (LMCC) and the US Federation of State Medical Boards. Sam understands your medications, your sleep, your body — most counsellors simply can’t.
Trauma experience no classroom teaches
Twelve years with the Red Crescent in refugee camps across three countries, then five years with Veterans Affairs Canada. Whatever you’re carrying — he has already seen its edges.
Therapy plus neurofeedback, one practice
One of very few clinicians in BC combining doctoral-level psychotherapy with brain training — for when talking alone hasn’t been enough.
No gatekeepers
No receptionist, no intake forms before a human hears you. You call, he answers. First 20 minutes free.
What happens when you call?
Dr. Samuel answers personally. No secretary, no forms, no gatekeeping.
Ask anything: fees, insurance coverage, whether therapy or neurofeedback fits you. Completely confidential.
Book a first session — or don’t. Either way, you leave the call with clarity and zero obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions — Individual Therapy
How do I know if I need therapy?
A useful rule of thumb: if something is affecting your daily functioning, your relationships, your sleep, or your sense of self — and it has been persisting for more than a few weeks — it is worth talking to someone. You do not need to be in crisis to benefit from therapy. Many people find therapy most useful precisely when they are not at rock bottom, because they have more capacity to do the work.
How long does individual therapy take?
It depends on what you bring. Focused work on a specific presenting issue (a phobia, a recent trauma, a life transition) can be effective in 8–16 sessions. Deeper work on patterns rooted in early experience or complex trauma typically takes longer — 6 months to 2 years. Dr. Samuel discusses realistic timelines in the first session based on your specific situation.
Do you offer online individual therapy?
Yes. Dr. Samuel offers online therapy via secure video for clients across British Columbia. Online sessions are equally effective for most presentations, and many clients prefer the convenience. In-person sessions are available at Suite 1300, 1500 West Georgia Street, Vancouver.