Tara Winkler, LCPC

06/27/2024

I’m excited to announce that I have added another provider to my practice, under my supervision. Jake is new to private practice but already has extensive experience and a passion to help others. Also it is so refreshing to have another male mental health counselor in our area. Jake is accepting new patients with ASAP availability. Please follow the link to read more or set up an appointment with him.

Jacob Reid, Pre-Licensed Professional, Springfield, IL, 62704, (217) 279-9823, With a multicultural perspective, I embrace the value of diverse experiences, cultures, and identities. My approach is rooted in cultural sensitivity, empathy, and understanding, creating a safe and welcoming space for in...

10/27/2022

10/14/2022

10/06/2022

Our three-part series with Drs. John and Julie Gottman The Gottman Institute—clinicians, researchers, and authors of the new book “The Love Prescription: Seven Days to More Intimacy, Connection, and Joy”—continues!

As they write in their actionable guide to relationship-building:

“We’ve studied more than 3,000 couples in the Love Lab, following some for as long as 20 years, and we’ve studied more than 40,000 couples about to begin couples therapy. And we’ve discovered that there are universal factors that make or break a relationship, that predict whether a couple will stay together happily, or not.

First, a couple needs to stay curious about each other. We all grow and change over time. Successful couples know this and take the time to make and expand their ‘love maps’—their knowledge of each other’s inner worlds.

Second, the couple needs to share fondness and admiration. That means, among other things, seeing and appreciating the good things your partner does, finding and focusing on the things you admire about them, and expressing these things out loud or with touch.

And third, the couple turns toward each other instead of turning away. That means they make and respond to what we call ‘bids for connection.’ Bids can range from little things, like calling each other’s names, to big things, like asking for deeper needs to be met. Successful couples are savvy enough to notice when their partner is making a bid, and they drop what they’re doing, if necessary, to engage.”

Listen to the Gottmans talk about “The Love Prescription” on .

https://bit.ly/3Cw7WTc

07/26/2022

07/26/2022

07/16/2022

OR YOU COULD JUST LIVE

You are going to wish your body was more,
You are going to wish your body was less,
You are going to wish your body would change,
You are going to wish your body would not.

You are going to wish your body was many things,
between now,
and the day you leave this mortal coil.

And one day,
as is always the way,
you will look back,
and see,
that your body was always as it should be.
Doing its best
To be you,
for you.

And you are then going to wish that just once,
you had told your body,
‘I accept you, as you are, right now’.

And that maybe had you done this,
you would have spared yourself a lifetime,
of wishing for something you didn’t really ever need.

That what it was you should have been wishing for, in fact,
was the courage to accept,
the strength to embrace,
the wisdom to really see,
what you have.

You’re going to wish for many things,
when it comes to your body.

Or you could just wish for health.

And live your life,
flawed
and
beautiful.

Donna Ashworth
From ‘I wish I knew’: https://amzn.to/3JVMJlZ

Art by Helma Speksnijder

02/22/2022

I became a teenager in the 90s.

Where the models were stick thin.
Curves were disgusting.
B***s were shameful.
And anything over a size 2 a disgrace.
Then the 2000s brought tall glamous thin Victoria's Secret models that told me tan, tall, and cup D was desired.

Now at 38, I see how toxic my relationship with my body is.

I see young women today embracing their bodies. All the shapes and sizes. I am baffled how they can be so comfortable in their skin. Then I see companies using models that look like me.

But the damage has been done.

I hate my body right now.
And have in the past.

I have tried to throw it up, starve it, and exercise it all away. To be like them. The women in the magazines I read in my teens.

I look at my body now with the extra weight packed on by meds and age. Three new scars reminding me how sick my body was. The stretch marks from carrying my sons.

My clothes don't fit. I try to shop for replacements but it ends in tears and dispare. I can't see beauty and femininity. I only see the stick thin image burned into my brain of what beauty looks like.

I am told I am beautiful. Sexy. Hot. Desired.

I struggle to see it. And believe it.
And I want too. I really do.

Ridding myself of the lies I have heard for 30 years isn't easy. Especially when I still compare myself to others who are thinner than me.

I am sharing this now because it is heavy. It's exhausting. It's all consuming at times.

Me aching to love myself wholeheartedly and at the same time hating the way my body looks. Tears are forming as I write this.

Sure losing weight will make me feel better. It won't solve the problem or heal the issue.

I don't know how to work on loving my body.
But I know sharing this is the first step.

02/17/2022