Muslim Counselling · Canada
Muslim Therapist in Canada — Online Therapy in Six Provinces
TEO Counselling Services provides therapy for Muslim individuals and couples. Sessions are held online and available to clients in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland & Labrador. Sessions are available in Arabic or English, and we offer spiritually integrated therapy — meaning your faith can be part of the clinical work rather than something you leave outside. All sessions are confidential and held by video, from home, in any of the six provinces we serve. Mohamad Shabib is a Muslim therapist and a Canadian Certified Counsellor, so the cultural and religious context doesn't need explaining before the work can start. Mohamad Shabib, MACP, CCC, is a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCPA) and a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario.
Book a free 15-minute consultationAt a glance
Therapy for Muslim clients at TEO Counselling Services is provided online by Mohamad Shabib, MACP, CCC (CCPA #11249205), a Muslim therapist and Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the CRPO (#14298), who sees clients in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland & Labrador. Alison Shaji, MA, RCC, sees clients in British Columbia, and Rola Shbib, BSW (Hons), RSW (Ontario), also sees clients, in English. Sessions with Mohamad are held in English or Arabic, and sessions with Alison in English, Hindi or Malayalam. Fees are $150 per 60-minute individual session and $175 per 60-minute couples session; reimbursement depends on the designation a plan covers (CCC, RCC, RSW or Registered Psychotherapist), and direct billing is available with Mohamad and Alison for Pacific Blue Cross, CVAP and plans on the TELUS eClaims network, Canada Life and Manulife among them. Appointments run seven days a week from 12pm to 9pm Pacific (3pm to midnight Eastern for Ontario clients), and every client starts with a free 15-minute consultation.
What you won't have to explain
Therapy is harder when half the session goes to context-setting. Here, you can skip:
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Why a decision involves your parents, siblings, and extended family — and why "it's your life" isn't a complete answer.
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What Ramadan is, and why sleep, mood, and energy shift during it.
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Why "just move out" or "just set a boundary" isn't straightforward advice in every family structure.
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Why marriage difficulties carry weight beyond the two people involved.
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What it costs to be visibly Muslim in a place where that draws attention.
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Why you might not want to be seen walking into a therapist's office in your own community.
None of it gets pathologised for being unfamiliar, and none of it gets treated as the problem when it isn't.
Faith in the room — as much or as little as you want
We offer spiritually integrated therapy. In practice that means faith can be a resource we draw on, a source of pain we work through, or something we don't discuss at all. Your call, and you can change it.
To be clear about the boundary: this is psychotherapy, not religious counsel. We don't issue fatwas, give religious rulings, or act as scholars. If a question is genuinely religious rather than psychological, we'll say so and suggest you take it to someone qualified for that. Some clients want to bring both — an imam for the religious question, a therapist for the psychological one. That works well.
Does my therapist need to be Muslim?
No — your therapist does not need to be Muslim, but the work can start faster with someone who already understands the context. What makes therapy work is clinical competence, a good fit, and a therapist who doesn't need the basics of your life explained before the real conversation can begin. Mohamad Shabib is a Muslim therapist and a Canadian Certified Counsellor, which means that last condition is met before you say a word.
In practice it looks like this: you don't spend a session explaining why you fast, why your mother's opinion carries the weight it does, or why a decision about marriage or divorce lands differently in your family than it does for your co-workers. You also don't have to brace for the quiet assumption that religion itself is the problem. The session goes straight to what actually hurts.
And the door swings both ways. If you're in a mixed-faith relationship, if your partner isn't Muslim, or if a family member joins a session, they are welcome. Nobody is screened for belief on the way in.
Can I have therapy in Arabic?
Yes — sessions with Mohamad Shabib are available in Arabic, in English, or in a mix of both, and you can switch languages mid-session whenever one carries the feeling better. Mohamad Shabib works in both languages himself, so nothing is routed through an interpreter and nothing waits for translation.
This matters more than it might seem. Feelings tend to live in a first language. A parent's exact words, a phrase from home, the way grief or shame is named in Arabic — some of that flattens or disappears in English. If you have tried therapy in English and felt like you were describing your life from a distance, the language may have been part of the problem. Therapy shouldn't require you to translate yourself before you can be understood.
If Arabic-language therapy is the main thing you're looking for, our Arabic-speaking therapist page covers that work in more detail.
Confidentiality — the honest answer
For many Muslim clients this is the single biggest barrier, and it deserves a straight answer rather than reassurance. Sessions are confidential under the privacy law of the province you live in and the ethical standards of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. Nothing is disclosed to your family, your spouse, your community, or your employer without your written consent. The four narrow legal exceptions — serious risk of harm to yourself or someone else, a child who needs protection, a court order or subpoena, and abuse by a regulated health professional — are explained before you begin, not buried.
Because sessions are virtual, there is no waiting room and no office door. Nobody sees you arrive. If you have been putting this off because your community is small and word travels, that concern is reasonable. Virtual, confidential therapy is a direct answer to it.
What we work with
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Trauma and PTSD, including war, displacement, and violence.
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Refugee and resettlement stress — including the guilt of having made it out.
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Marriage and couples counselling, using the Gottman Method.
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Intergenerational conflict between parents raised abroad and children raised here.
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Anxiety, depression, burnout, anger.
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Identity and belonging — including for converts and for people navigating practice differently than their family.
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Moral injury and religiously framed guilt.
Approaches: EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Gottman Method. All evidence-based.
Sessions, languages and fees
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Clinicians | Mohamad Shabib, MACP, CCC, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) — six provinces; Alison Shaji, MA, RCC — British Columbia only; Rola Shbib, BSW (Hons), RSW (Ontario) — English |
| Languages | Arabic or English with Mohamad; English, Hindi or Malayalam with Alison (BC only) |
| Initial consultation | Free, 15 minutes |
| Individual | $150 per 60-minute session |
| Couples | $175 per 60-minute session |
| Format | Virtual — British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador |
| Availability | 7 days a week, 12pm–9pm Pacific |
| Insurance | Reimbursement depends on the designation your plan covers (CCC, RCC, RSW or Registered Psychotherapist). Direct billing is available with Mohamad and Alison for Pacific Blue Cross, CVAP and plans on the TELUS eClaims network (Canada Life and Manulife among them); Rola is not on the direct-bill line. |
Arabic-speaking clients: see our Arabic-speaking therapist page.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a Muslim therapist in Canada who works online?
Yes. TEO Counselling Services provides online therapy for Muslim clients in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland & Labrador, with sessions available in Arabic or English. Care is delivered by Mohamad Shabib, a Muslim therapist who is a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) and a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with CRPO, and it can be spiritually integrated if you want it to be.
Is there a Muslim therapist in BC?
Yes. Mohamad Shabib sees clients in British Columbia by video, in Arabic or English, from Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Clients in BC who would rather work in Hindi or Malayalam can book with Alison Shaji, MA, RCC, who works with clients in British Columbia only. Either way there is no office to travel to — you join from home in Vancouver, Surrey, Victoria, Kelowna or anywhere else in the province.
Is Islamic counselling the same as therapy?
Not quite. Islamic counselling is delivered from within the faith and may include religious guidance. What we provide is clinical psychotherapy — evidence-based approaches like EMDR, IFS, and the Gottman Method — delivered with an understanding of Islamic practice and culture. Faith can be integrated into the work, but we don't give religious rulings.
Is it halal to go to a therapist?
That is a religious question, and we don't issue religious rulings — if it matters to you, take it to an imam or scholar you trust. What we can tell you is how therapy works here: it is clinical psychotherapy, faith is welcome in the room to exactly the degree you want it, and nothing in the work asks you to set your beliefs aside. Some clients keep both going at once — the religious question with a scholar, the psychological work with a therapist.
Will my family or community find out I'm in therapy?
No. Sessions are confidential under the privacy law of your province and CCPA ethical standards, and nothing is shared with family, spouse, or community without your written consent. The four narrow legal exceptions — serious risk of harm to yourself or someone else, a child who needs protection, a court order, and abuse by a regulated health professional — are explained upfront. Virtual sessions mean there's no waiting room where you could be recognised.
Can I have therapy in Arabic?
Yes. Sessions with Mohamad Shabib are available in Arabic or English, and you can move between them within a session. He is the practice's Arabic-speaking clinician, so nothing goes through an interpreter.
Do you work with Muslim couples?
Yes. We use the Gottman Method, an approach with a substantial research base in couples therapy, applied with an understanding of how marriage functions within extended family and community structures. Both partners attend together, virtually.
Do I have to be practising to come?
No. We work with clients across the full range — devout, culturally Muslim, questioning, non-practising, and converts. Nobody is assessed on their level of practice.
Does my therapist need to be Muslim?
No. What matters most is clinical competence and a good fit. The work can start faster with someone who already understands the context — Mohamad Shabib is a Muslim therapist and a Canadian Certified Counsellor, so the cultural and religious background doesn't need explaining first. Non-Muslim partners and family members are welcome in the work too.
Where can I find free Muslim counselling in Canada?
TEO Counselling is a private practice, so our sessions are $150 per 60-minute session rather than free. If cost is the barrier, Naseeha Mental Health runs a confidential helpline for Muslims in Canada, and some mosques and Muslim community organisations offer free or low-cost counselling; availability varies by city. It is also worth checking whether your extended health plan reimburses a Canadian Certified Counsellor or Registered Psychotherapist, which can make private therapy workable.
Written by Mohamad Shabib, MACP, CCC, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO — Ontario — Founder & Lead Therapist, TEO Counselling Services. Member, Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA).
Where we work
TEO Counselling Services is a virtual practice based in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Every session is held by video, so you join from home in whichever of these provinces you live in:
- Online therapy in British Columbia — Mohamad Shabib in English or Arabic; Alison Shaji in English, Hindi or Malayalam
- Online therapy in Ontario — Mohamad Shabib, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with CRPO, in English or Arabic; Rola Shbib, BSW (Hons), RSW (Ontario), in English
- Online therapy in Alberta — Calgary, Edmonton and everywhere between
- Online therapy in Saskatchewan — Saskatoon, Regina and rural communities
- Online therapy in Manitoba — Winnipeg and across the province
- Online therapy in Newfoundland and Labrador — St. John's and beyond
Ontario clients can also read our Muslim therapist in Ontario page, which covers CRPO and OCSWSSW registration, Ontario's health-privacy law (PHIPA), and the option of booking with a female clinician.
If you need someone now
Therapy is not a crisis service. These are free and staffed around the clock:
- · 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 9-8-8 (Canada, 24/7); 911 in an emergency
- · Kids Help Phone (for young people): 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868
- · Hope for Wellness Help Line: 1-855-242-3310 (24/7)
If you are in immediate danger, please call 911.
Book a free 15-minute consultation
A short conversation about what's going on and whether this is the right fit. No commitment, no pressure.
Book a free 15-minute consultation