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T. Rob Winkler, MA, LP, RPT-S

"The most therapeutic conversation you will have in my office will not be with me, but with yourself!"

I enjoy the opportunity to help clients find what they need through a creative experience in addition to conventional talk therapy. I embrace activity-based therapeutic approaches which facilitate communication or insight otherwise unable to be heard and recognized through normal dialogue. Activities provide opportunities for the mind, body, and soul to gain an understanding and thereby foster a personal growth experience!

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I have a natural way of narrating activity & play which extends my presence and allows me to bring awareness to what I call "living cognitions." Often, before we are able to understand something, we must experience it. This experience becomes a living cognition that is consolidated into an understanding and used as a tool in other situations. This is especially true for children & adolescents. A living cognition remains an experience until we are made aware of it and understand how to generalize it to other situations. Metaphor is used to make the living cognition a working tool which can be applied to other situations to guide behavior, problem-solving, and mental understanding. To summarize, I am a guide into activities which can offer positive & helpful living cognitions and promote a personal growth experience!

Hi, I'm Rob Winkler!

Therapeutic strengths include: facilitating awareness, crafting creative activities for metaphor, using metaphor to bridge experience for greater understanding, honoring autonomy, reframing viewpoints into more positive perspectives, and using humor.

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The academic: I have a Master's in counseling psychology & I am credentialed as a registered play therapist. I continue to educate myself on expressive art therapies as they fit my approach, theory, and passion. I further focus my continued education in the areas listed below. 

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Technical jargon: I work from a foundation built on Gestalt & Client-Centered principles. This foundation is intentionally built and strengthened in every session to include: unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence. On top of this foundation, I become more directive through these theories: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing. 

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Areas of special focus: ADHD, anger, anxiety, depression, the parent-child relationship, and trauma. 

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Approach: I am proud to employ a unique therapeutic team approach with an apprentice intern working by my side to offer more comprehensive therapy than I could offer by myself. In the initial meeting, my intern will be taking notes so I can engage more fully with the client and family. During all of my therapy sessions with clients, the intern will be observing the session through an observation window. After each session, the intern and I will explore and evaluate my therapeutic effectiveness and identify opportunities for the next session. The family will be encouraged to allow the intern to visit their home once a week for an in-home family session to expand & strengthen the work done in the office. This approach offers more observation, intervention, and evaluation of the therapy process, making it a more comprehensive model for client care than an individual therapist could provide. All details and arrangements for utilizing interns will be discussed and agreed upon with clients.

Rob's Interns

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Pam Hoffman

Hi! I’m Pam Hoffman. I am excited to be an intern at Playmore & Prosper this year! I knew I wanted to work as a therapist already in high school, but after graduating college with my Bachelor’s degree in psychology and working a few years in the areas of memory disorders and healthy aging research and outreach, I realized that I was also very interested in the field of public health. I obtained a Master's degree in public health from the University of Alaska Anchorage, and I then worked in childhood obesity prevention research and as a writer on health and parenting-related topics. Having a front-row seat to child development as a parent rekindled my interest in becoming a therapist, and I discovered the modality of play therapy when one of my children was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a toddler and was fearful of the needed insulin injections. As a result of walking with my child through this experience, I realized I wanted to help kids, adolescents, and adults process difficult experiences and big feelings of all sorts so that they could feel better and achieve their goals. I am enrolled at Crown College in their Master’s in counseling program and also at Bethel University in their play therapy program.

 

My approach can best be described as holistic (i.e., encompassing physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs), integrative (i.e., blending different theories and methods to form a personalized, coordinated approach), and evidence-based (i.e., selecting therapy methods that are backed by high-quality scientific research). My theoretical foundation is in child-centered/person-centered play therapy philosophies with an appreciation for the stages of human development. My background in public health keeps me grounded in the notion of prevention, and I am always considering healthy habits my clients can cultivate in the present to help prevent problems further down the road. Other important psychological theories that influence my practice include Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Family Systems Theory, and Attachment Theory. I am also passionate about equipping and supporting parents and caregivers so that they feel empowered to provide their children with loving and secure family relationships. I am supervised by T. Rob Winkler, MA, LP, RPT-S.

 

My family lives on a little hobby farm and we dabble in gardening, raising chickens (one of my friends told me that this means I now have to introduce myself as a “chicken tender!”😊), tapping our maple trees to make syrup, and playing with our dog and cat. I also find joy in nature hikes, savoring a hot cup of coffee, interior design, driving my old pickup truck with the windows down, spending time with my favorite people, and cooking new recipes.

Rob's Services & Fees

Services:

I offer individual and family therapy. I am a registered play therapist and utilize creative activities inside sessions. I am passionate about the therapeutic power of activity. My areas of specialty are listed above.​

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Fees:

I am a fee-for-service provider, which means I do not accept insurance. You may be reimbursed by your insurance company for my services if you choose to request out-of-network reimbursement. Please verify the specific requirements for reimbursement with your insurance provider, and I will be happy to provide you with the appropriate receipt, billing codes, and diagnosis needed (insurance will not reimburse if there is no diagnosis).

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Payment is due at the time of service, and I accept cash, check, or credit card payments, including Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) cards.

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My hourly rate is $175/hr - there is no fee for my apprentice intern's two hour home session. In other words, you could be getting three hours of service for the price of one. 

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