Herman Chow, Marriage Counselor in Markham, L3R 5B4

Herman Chow, D.Min. Registered Marriage and Family Therapist (fee covered by most insurance health plans)

Profession(s):
Marriage & Family Therapy, Counseling, Pastoral Counseling
License Status:
I'm a registered professional.
Primary License:
AAMFT / OAMFT (Clinical Membership)

My Approach to Helping

My belief is that people often have answers to most of their problems. However, there are a lot of "junk" that get in the way of seeing the answers. As your therapist, I will assist you in clearing away the junk so that you can see the answers for yourself and make appropriate changes toward growth.

More Info About My Practice

Herman's passion is to strengthen and nurture people towards healthy relationships. With more than 10 years of experience in counselling and teaching, Herman walks with his clients in a safe, nurturing, and professional atmosphere to explore their issues. His experience encompasses various settings: academic institutions, churches, agency, and private practice. Herman has worked with clients of diverse ethnicity.

Here are some highlights about Herman Chow:
.Fee covered by most insurance health plans
.Registered marriage and family therapist
.Doctor of Ministry in marriage and family
.Master of Divinity in counselling
.Clinical Member and Approved Supervisor of American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy
.Adjunct professor of counselling at Tyndale University College and Seminary
.Adjunct professor of counselling at University of Guelph (Open Learning)
.Certified practitioner of psychometric instruments such as, Prepare Enrich, MBTI, FIRO-B, and the Strong Interest Inventory
.Ordained Minister
.Former family life education coordinator at Family Service of Peel
.Former faculty member of the continuing education department in Centennial College
.Fluent in English and Cantonese

Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With

Although I have helped my clients in a variety of therapeutic issues (e.g. depression and anxiety, divorce and remarriage, adolescent issues, stress, etc.), there are a few areas that clients have continued to seek me out: 1) Couple relationship 2) Sex addiction 3) Self-esteem 4) Anger Management (Court mandated and non-mandated) My training and interest prepared me to assist my clients in these areas. As a professor I see the value of homework and notes so that clients are not just engaging with the material in the one hour of counselling but that they continue their learning even at home. Therefore, I developed workbooks to facilitate clients’ learning and progress. Many of them find the workbooks helpful because all the notes are kept in one place and they can bring them home for review and homework. Research continues to show that clients who do their homework have better therapy outcome.

How Psychotherapy Can Help

Psychotherapy is about helping people get unstuck. People are often stuck because they see only the problem. It is like standing right up against a tree, they see only the tree (i.e. the problem). Counselling helps them step back and see the whole forest (both the problem but also the good stuff that are happening in their lives). When they do that, they are no longer as stuck. The problem is still there but it does not seem as big as before. The clients can also draw on the resources of the whole forest to deal with the problem. Good therapists act as a sounding board to reflect back to clients – to normalize and to validate their feelings. In a non-judgemental way, counsellor brings clarity to an issue so that the clients can see things more clearly and make better decisions. When people make good decisions, they usually move on better with their lives.