Therapy in Punjabi or Hindi in Calgary: When You Don't Have to Translate Your Feelings

Some feelings arrive in English. Others arrive in the language you grew up with, the one your mother used when she was worried, the one that comes out when you are too tired to choose your words.

If you have ever sat across from a professional and felt yourself editing as you spoke, softening a phrase, skipping a proverb because it would take too long to explain, deciding not to mention what your in-laws said because the context would need a whole session of its own, you already know the problem this post is about.

Punjabi is Calgary's most spoken language after English

According to 2021 census data reported by CBC Calgary, Punjabi is the most common language other than English spoken at home in this city. Hindi and Urdu, which many Punjabi speakers also understand, are part of that same conversation.

That is a lot of Calgarians who can describe a bad day perfectly well in English and still find that the heavy things, grief, shame, the pressure of being the one who holds the family together, land differently in Punjabi or Hindi.

What gets lost in translation

People often assume the difficulty is vocabulary. Usually it is not. It is everything around the words.

The context you would otherwise have to explain. Joint family households. Expectations about who looks after aging parents. What it means to be the daughter-in-law, the eldest, the one who "did well". In a session where you don't have to build all of that from scratch, you get to the part that actually hurts much sooner.

The words that don't have a clean English match. Some feelings live in a phrase rather than a word. When you can say it the way it sounds in your head, you stop translating and start talking.

The fear of being misunderstood, or judged. Many women we hear from worry that a therapist will see their family, their faith or their community as the problem. Culturally sensitive therapy starts from the opposite assumption: your culture is part of who you are, not something to be fixed.

What this looks like at Truepath

Nancy Jassi, MACP, Registered Provisional Psychologist, Truepath's Punjabi and Hindi speaking Registered Provisional Psychologist, offers sessions in English, Punjabi or Hindi. You can switch between them in the same session. Plenty of people do: English for the work email, Punjabi for the argument with their mother.

Nancy works with adults, older adults and couples, using CBT, solution-focused therapy and IFS-informed (parts) work, with a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive approach. In practice that means:

• We start with what is going on now, not a long intake questionnaire.

• Family is part of the picture, whether or not anyone else ever comes to a session.

• Faith, tradition and community are treated as sources of strength as well as stress.

• You decide what language feels right, and you can change your mind.

Sessions are in person in Kensington NW, Calgary, or online by secure video anywhere in Alberta. Individual sessions are $235 for 50 minutes. Because she practises under supervision, sessions can't be direct billed: you pay at the session and submit your receipt to your insurer.

"Is therapy even for people like us?"

This is the question underneath a lot of first consults, and it deserves a straight answer.

Therapy is not about airing family business or turning against your parents. It is a private, confidential space to sort out what you are carrying, so you can show up for the people you love without disappearing in the process. Many of the women who come to us are not in crisis. They are tired, they are holding a lot, and they have not had anywhere to put it down.

If you are not sure, that is what the free 15-minute consult is for. You can ask anything, including whether a session in Punjabi or Hindi would suit you better than one in English.

Coming to a session for someone else

If you are reading this for your mother, your sister or a friend, you can't make her book. But you can tell her this option exists, in her language, in Calgary. Sometimes that is all the permission someone needs.

Book a free 15-minute consult and mention you would like a session in Punjabi or Hindi.

If you are in crisis right now, please don't wait for an appointment. Call or text 988 (Suicide Crisis Helpline, 24/7) or the Distress Centre Calgary at 403-266-HELP (4357). If you are in immediate danger, call 911.