Chris Hao currently a registered psychotherapist and holds a master’s degree in Counselling Psychology (MACP) from Yorkville University, a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from University of Toronto.
Chris sees his role in the counselling room is to support you in telling your story, explore your deeper emotions, and team with you to travel through life’s darkness. He works from a client-centered humanistic approach to support you in working towards individual goals, such as personal growth, relationship improvement, healthy coping strategy development, and affect regulation. His primary goal is to create a safe space in order for you to feel comfortable to share your experiences and to work collaboratively to foster positive change.
Chris has 10+ experience working in high school and university settings, helping youth manage a variety of difficulties including anxiety, depression, distress, fear, intergenerational conflicts, and more. His approach is strength-based, mindful-based, and trauma informed, utilizing cognitive behavioural therapy, emotionally focused therapy, and Gestalt therapy. While his client population was primarily adolescents and young adults, he is increasingly caring about the relationship between adult children and their aging parents. He is also trained in helping couples in difficult marital relationships, as well as people in grief.
He has studied philosophy for more than ten years and holding a master’s degree in philosophy (McMaster University), Chris is concerned about existential questions that everyone must face, human existence, the meaning of life, dying and death etc. In his view, to help clients contemplate those questions would shed light on the client’s deeper understanding/feelings about their lives, empowering them, and helping them get out of the existential trap they are in now.
Chris lives with his wife, who is a nurse, two adolescent children, and a German shepherd (Estor). In his spare time, he enjoys doing Yoga and workout with his daughter and companying Estor at the park taking philosophical contemplation.