Therapy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Peshawar has three public teaching hospitals with psychiatry departments: Khyber Teaching Hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital. For ongoing talking therapy you can also meet a therapist online by video, in Urdu or English. In an emergency, dial Rescue 1122 or police 15.
Overview
Pashto is the home language of almost everyone in Peshawar district: more than nine in ten people named it as their mother tongue in the 2023 census. Hindko and Urdu make up most of the rest.
The city’s public hospitals carry much of the province’s psychiatric care. Khyber Teaching Hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital each run a psychiatry department that offers psychological therapy alongside medical treatment, and Lady Reading Hospital has a separate unit for drug dependence. As of April 2026, the provincial health department has also placed a psychologist in each of 32 district headquarters hospitals across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which can help if family members live outside the city.
Online therapy is a way to get regular sessions without long hospital queues or travel. Safe Healing sessions are one-to-one video calls on Google Meet for adults 18 and over, held in Urdu or English; each therapist’s profile shows the languages they speak, so check the list on this page for Pashto. If someone is at risk of harm, go to a hospital emergency department or call for help first.
Safe Healing therapists
No Safe Healing therapists are based in Peshawar yet. Sessions are online, so these approved therapists can see you wherever you are.
20 years of experienceTherapist · based in Islamabad
Approaches: Psychodynamic, Narrative therapy, Mindfulness-based, and more
5 years of experienceTherapist · based in Hyderabad, Sindh
Approaches: CBT, Solution-focused, Mindfulness-based, and more
4 years of experienceTherapist · based in Lahore
Approaches: CBT, Humanistic, Mindfulness-based, and more
4 years of experienceTherapist · based in Lahore
Approaches: CBT, Mindfulness-based, Solution-focused, and more
3 years of experienceTherapist · based in Lahore
Approaches: CBT, Mindfulness-based, Psychodynamic, and more
3 years of experienceTherapist · based in Lahore
Approaches: Mindfulness-based, Solution-focused, CBT, and more
Every profile is reviewed before it goes live. How we review therapists
In person
Hospitals and institutes with psychiatry or psychology services, from official sources. Check before you go; Safe Healing is not affiliated with them.
Weekday outpatient clinics, emergency admissions around the clock, individual and group counselling and psychotherapy, and dedicated child psychiatric services. It also trains clinical psychologists and runs a CBT certificate course with Khyber Medical University.
kth.edu.pkHayatabad
A 20-bed inpatient unit, outpatient clinics on working days and round-the-clock emergency and liaison psychiatry. Three clinical psychologists provide psychotherapy alongside medical treatment.
hmckp.gov.pkStaffed by full-time psychiatrists and psychologists, with a separate 12-bed Drug Abuse Treatment Center offering detoxification, rehabilitation and aftercare meetings.
lrh.edu.pkUrgent help
If you or someone near you is in danger, call now. Safe Healing is not an emergency service.
Your rights
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mental Health Act 2017
The 2017 Act (KP Act No. XVII of 2017) lets anyone seek assessment and treatment on a voluntary basis and leave if they withdraw consent, requires written informed consent before treatment, and forbids publicising a patient’s identity in the press. It also says anyone who attempts suicide must be assessed by an approved psychiatrist and treated if they have a mental disorder.
Read the sourceOne-to-one video sessions with an approved therapist, in Urdu or English, wherever you are in Peshawar.
FAQ
Khyber Teaching Hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital all have psychiatry departments with outpatient clinics and emergency care.
Lady Reading Hospital runs a 12-bed Drug Abuse Treatment Center with detoxification, rehabilitation and aftercare. Khyber Teaching Hospital’s psychiatry department also admits patients in an emergency.
Safe Healing sessions are in Urdu or English, and each therapist lists the languages they speak on their profile. The public hospitals above may be able to offer Pashto-speaking staff; ask when you book.
It allows voluntary treatment, requires written informed consent before investigation or treatment, protects patients’ identity from the press, and says a person who attempts suicide should be assessed and treated by a psychiatrist.
In April 2026 the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department appointed a psychologist to each of 32 district headquarters hospitals. Online therapy is another option wherever there is a stable internet connection.
Not yet. Every session on Safe Healing is an online video call, so you can still see an approved therapist from another city while you are in Peshawar.
Helpful next steps
