About Shirin
Shirin Rad is an ACA and APS member counsellor who helps people manage stress and anxiety. She speaks English and Persian and draws on ten years of practice to support people through difficult moments. Her style is warm and straightforward, aimed at helping people make small, practical changes that matter day to day.
Shirin offers a calm, non-judgemental space where people can talk about what is worrying them. She listens for strengths and builds on them.
Background and approach
She works with common concerns such as relationship strain, trauma and abuse, depression, and attention difficulties linked to ADHD. Her method is client-centred and strengths-based. She treats each person as the expert on their own life and helps them find workable steps forward.
Shirin uses practical tools drawn from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to reduce unhelpful thinking and increase meaningful action. She has experience supporting people from diverse cultural backgrounds, including migrants and Farsi-speaking clients. That background shapes how she helps people who are adjusting to new communities or managing cultural change.
Sessions are focused on clear goals. Typical work includes noticing patterns, practising different responses, and setting achievable tasks between meetings. People leave with strategies they can use at home and a clearer sense of what to try next.
How ACT and CBT translate to online sessions
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck. It focuses on values and small actions that build a more meaningful life and is useful for anxiety, stress and low mood. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at thinking patterns and behaviours and teaches specific skills to reduce panic, phobias, obsessive thinking and unhelpful habits.Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The counsellor will work with each person to choose techniques that match their goals and preferences, and adjust the plan as progress is made. Sessions include teaching skills, practising techniques, and setting short tasks to try between meetings.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls are useful when visual cues and a fuller conversation help, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited, and live chat or text-based messaging suit quick check-ins or brief progress notes. These formats make it easier to fit sessions around work, family commitments and different time zones, while still using ACT and CBT tools effectively.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English, Persian
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