A Truly Valuable Experience – A Testimonial

I have just completed the 16-week Anger Management course at The WIN Institute – Minnesota Anger Management. I could not recommend it more highly.

For men who struggle with anger, who handle anger inappropriately, and are enduring the consequences of those difficulties, this course offers both invaluable tools for managing one’s anger and meaningful tools for improving one’s life. Rather than being an additional negative consequence that one must suffer through, this course turned out to be a genuine opportunity for personal growth that helped restore my hope that my life could get better.

There are several aspects that account for the value that I found in the program: the facilitator, the material, the presentation, and the atmosphere. Each of these enabled me personally, and others that I witnessed, to benefit from the course.

It all begins with the facilitator, Steven Clark. I have found myself describing him as a very “solid” individual. He is the type of person that one immediately respects and likes.

Steven has a talent for creating a safe environment and drawing out participant’s thoughts. Repeatedly I found myself observing that he genuinely cares about others and wants to see them succeed. As Steven guided us through each segment of the course, he consistently brought us back to his larger concern: how can we as individuals change our thinking and behavior to improve ourselves and to achieve more of want we wanted in life.

As we studied the course material, Steven challenged us to think more deeply about ourselves and observe the internal dynamics that led to one’s anger. He has a way of asking the right questions to guide one in probing oneself and gaining a greater understanding of oneself. He would then help us connect the dots, bringing the conversation back to how our internal process and behavior patterns affects achieving life goals.

Once again, he created a secure space in which participants felt comfortable sharing their thoughts and self-observations. With participants of diverse ethnicities, educational levels, cultural backgrounds, careers paths, and age groups, Steven established a level playing field in which everyone was regarded as an equal, and everyone’s input was given equal courtesy, respect, and consideration.

The material itself offered useful techniques to help one preempt their anger, diffuse their anger, or cope with their anger. All of which was based upon gaining personal insight into one’s thoughts and emotions. The presentation is best described as a “multi-media” approach. We constantly shifted between slide presentations, reading from the workbook, making notes in handouts, and group discussion. This shifting of approaches kept the sessions engaging.

In my experience, The WIN Institute – Minnesota Anger Management is aptly named. It became clear to me that the intent was to help men succeed, not just in managing their anger, but to help them to succeed in life. The focus was not negative, merely upon the mistakes one has made; and the focus was not narrow, merely upon anger management; but the broader perspective was upon how one can make changes to become a larger person and to realize one’s life goals. --- Steven, New Hope

For more information about The WIN Institute – Minnesota Anger Management, please contact:

Steven W. Clark, CAMF, CDVF, COAMF
The WIN Institute
Minnesota Anger Management
763-913-0130
www.thewininstitute.org
www.thewininstitute.blogspot.com