Dr. Mahsa Yaghoubirad
Dr. Mahsa Yaghoubirad (Ph.D., RCC) is a Registered Clinical Counsellor in British Columbia and founder of Yara Psychotherapy. She specializes in supporting adults with ADHD, couples navigating relationship conflict, and individuals exploring gender identity and questions of self.
Her Approach
Across all areas of her practice, Dr. Mahsa works through a transdiagnostic lens and gently focuses on the underlying patterns and processes that maintain distress, such as stress dysregulation, trauma responses, and rigid coping strategies, rather than relying solely on diagnostic labels. This helps create a collaborative, whole-person path toward deeper understanding and lasting change. Dr. Mahsa supports adults with ADHD who feel privately exhausted or overwhelm by self-criticism, and shame. She also helps couples stuck in cycles of criticism, defensiveness, or distance rebuild connection with practical tools, drawing on CBT and the Gottman Method.
Areas of focus
- Adults with ADHD
- Couples Navigating Relationship Conflict
- Anxiety and Coping Skills
- Depression
- Gender Identity
- Questions of Self
- Stress Dysregulation & Trauma Responses
Modalities
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- The Gottman Method
- Transdiagnostic Approach
Her Expertise
Adults with ADHD
Many of the adults Dr. Mahsa meets are capable and high-functioning, yet privately exhausted by overwhelm, self-criticism, and shame. She offers a compassionate space to unpack these patterns without judgment and build steadier, kinder ways of living and relating.
Couples counselling
Dr. Mahsa helps partners stuck in repetitive cycles of criticism, defensiveness, distance, or tension. Instead of focusing on “who’s right,” she helps uncover emotional patterns and rebuild connection with practical tools, integrating CBT and the Gottman Method.
Background and research
Mahsa holds a Ph.D. in Psychology and has published research on topics including gender identity development and lived experiences in cultural contexts, personality dimensions and their links to mental health (such as alexithymia), identity formation, and evidence-based interventions for emotional challenges. She has collaborated with initiatives at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
As an immigrant herself, she brings genuine sensitivity to themes of identity, belonging, and cultural transition.
“Through my own experience in counselling, I learned that facing and expressing our deepest emotions takes tremendous courage. Today, as a counsellor, I honour your fears and believe that together we can heal old wounds and find greater inner peace.”
– Mahsa
Sessions
Sessions are virtual across British Columbia including the Lower Mainland, Vancouver, and Coquitlam areas, in English and Farsi.