Dr. Hunter Ward
EdD, LCMHC, LPC, CMPC
Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor
(North Carolina)
Licensed Professional Counselor
(South Carolina + Texas)
Certified Mental Performance Consultant
he/him
Hunter brings a decade of education, training, and applied experience at the intersection of mental health and performance. A former collegiate athlete, he specializes in athlete mental health and mental performance, college and young adult mental health, anxiety and perfectionism, and mental recovery from sport injuries. His clinical expertise also includes grief, OCD, eating disorders, relational conflict, and intimacy issues.
Many of the people I work with have mastered the art of pushing through: athletes, high achievers, perfectionists, and overthinkers who keep performing while quietly running on empty. I believe mental health and performance aren't separate things; they feed each other. You can't perform your best when you're depleted, and you can't fully heal while ignoring what drives you.
When I think about therapy, I return to the word's original meaning: to place ourselves alongside another and accompany them with care, wherever they are. My goal is to help you understand yourself within the relationships and systems that shape you, so you can live and perform in a way that feels true to who you are. If that resonates with you, I would be honored to walk alongside you.
Qualifications
Hunter received his Doctor of Education in Sport and Performance Psychology and his Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Western States in Portland, Oregon. He also holds a Master of Science in Kinesiology with a specialization in sports psychology from A.T. Still University, and a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Middle Tennessee State University. He is fully licensed through the North Carolina Board of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors (#22744), as a Licensed Professional Counselor in South Carolina (#11669), and as a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas (#92498).
Background
Hunter's path into counseling began on the field. As a collegiate athlete, he lived the pressure of meeting expectations, the fear of setbacks, and the challenge of balancing life on and off the field. Like many athletes of his generation, he carried the mental side of competing largely on his own, at a time when that kind of support was neither accessible nor prioritized. That experience drives his commitment to giving others the mental health and mental performance support he never had.
His experience spans individual, couples, and group counseling, performance environments, and work alongside athletes, coaches, and teams. His clients range from athletes navigating the mental demands of performance to adults who simply feel stuck in life. They include high-performing professionals, young adults, and neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ individuals.
In his therapeutic approach, Hunter practices existential-integrative therapy, supported by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and somatic therapy. His work is experiential and relational, focusing on what unfolds in the present moment and attending to the whole person: physiological, psychological, emotional, social, and cultural. Alongside this deeper work, he helps clients build practical skills such as emotional regulation, executive functioning, and relationship-building strategies.
Specialization
Hunter's dedication to serving athletes and performers is reflected in his advanced study. He earned his Doctor of Education in Sport and Performance Psychology and completed the educational and supervised hours requirements for Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) certification through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. This training equips him to help athletes, coaches, teams, and other performers build the mental and emotional skills that excellence requires, including focus, confidence, resilience, motivation, and the ability to perform under pressure. Taking a holistic, systems-informed approach, he also works to strengthen the coaching relationships, team cultures, and environments that shape how performers develop and thrive. His performance work extends beyond sport to performing artists and first responders.
Hunter's clinical specialization centers on the concerns that so often show up in high-achieving and performance-driven lives. He brings particular depth to working with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, disordered eating, burnout, struggles with self-worth, mental recovery from injury, and life after sport, as well as the human concerns we all eventually face, such as grief and relational conflict.
What sets Hunter's work apart is his ability to bring both worlds together. As a licensed mental health counselor with specialized training in sport and performance psychology, he can recognize when performance struggles are connected to deeper concerns like anxiety, depression, or relationship difficulties, and address both in one place. Whether a client is looking to sharpen their mental game, heal from something painful, or both, Hunter serves not just the athlete or performer they show up as, but the human being beneath that role.
Personal Life
Outside the office, you'll likely find Hunter logging miles on a run, attempting a new recipe in the kitchen, or enjoying the chaos of family life with his wife and son. He'll admit it can be hard for him to sit still, and finding that balance is something he's always working on.