Sanjay (Jay) Rao

A background that spans kinesiology, health sciences, and counselling psychology gives Jay Rao an unusually grounded starting point for the work he does with people. Trained to read health from multiple angles — physical, psychological, behavioural — he brings that breadth to his Hamilton-based practice, now also available online, where he works with teens, adults, and couples facing depression, anxiety, stress, chronic pain, addiction, life transitions, sport performance, and weight management.

Jay’s approach centres on a straightforward conviction: people already carry the resources they need to solve even the hardest problems. His role is to help them find those resources again. That means paying attention to what has actually worked in someone’s life before — the goals they reached, the difficulties they survived — and building forward from there. For clients who find it hard to leave work at work, or who check messages at midnight because the boundary between job and everything else has quietly dissolved, that reconnection with their own values and priorities becomes especially concrete work.

In sessions, Jay draws on Client-Centred Therapy, CBT, Narrative Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Solutions-Based Therapy, and Emotionally-Focused Therapy, alongside medical models that inform his rehabilitation and wellness goals. His consistent aim is restoring a felt sense of self-worth and identity — not as an outcome he produces, but as something each client reclaims for themselves.