OU names new play therapy room in honor of former professor, Dr. Robert S. Fink

On April 17, Dr. Robert S. Fink, a licensed psychologist and professor emeritus of counseling at Oakland University, returned to campus to celebrate the grand opening of a new Play Therapy Room that will bear his name.

“April 17 is a day that has a lot of significance for me,” said Fink, who spent 45 years as a professor, clinician and consultant at OU. “First, it’s my mother’s birthday. She would’ve been 101. Second, it was five years ago today when I taught my final class as a faculty member here at OU. And third, we’re here to celebrate this wonderful event. I feel very honored.”

Located in room 250J on the second floor of Pawley Hall on the OU campus, the Dr. Robert S. Fink Play Therapy Room will serve as a safe haven for children and adolescents as they receive therapeutic services as part of the recently revamped Play Therapy Graduate Certificate program at OU.

“A fundamental problem with traditional talk therapy is there is an imbalance where the child has to rise up to the adult’s level of cognition to be able to express and speak about their feelings,” said Dr. Rebecca Vannest, an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling.

“This is very hard for adults to do, so just imagine being a child or a nonverbal child — they simply can’t do it,” she added. “Through play, it’s their territory, it’s their medium. They just get to play with the toys, which have been strategically chosen by the therapist. The therapist is trained in different analysis techniques and a conversion of talk therapy techniques so that the child is healing themselves and self-directing through their play, and the therapist knows how to enter their world through the toys.”

The new Robert S. Fink Play Therapy Room

The original play therapy program — then known as the Child and Adolescent Play Therapy Program — was developed by Dr. Fink in 1997 and continued at OU until 2018. Its rebirth as the Child and Adolescent Graduate Certificate in Play Therapy program was made possible in part by a philanthropic donation made by Dr. Fink and his wife, Eileen.

“I learned from my mother that giving is really an act of love, and what I’m expressing (with this contribution) is really what I feel for my colleagues, the department, the mission, the school, the university,” Fink said. “I’ve loved being at OU, and I’m just trying to share that love.”

Dr. Fink began his 45-year career at Oakland University in 1974. During his years at OU, he served as a faculty member of the Counseling Department (23 years), Psychology Department (4 years), and as the director of the University Psychological and Counseling Center for 18 years.

Although retired from academe, he continues to write. When writing reflective clinical stories and poems, he strives to put words to the experience of the clinical process from an “inside out” perspective.

Dr. Fink has 49 years of experience as a practicing clinician, clinical teacher and consultant, and maintains a private practice in Rochester Hills. Specialty areas have included the treatment of children, adolescents and parents, work with the family members of murder victims, trauma-informed therapy, clinical supervision, and the integration of mindfulness practices with traditional psychotherapy. Currently he serves as the psychological consultant for the Catholic Charities mental health clinics in the six counties comprising the Archdiocese of Detroit.

During the pandemic, Fink organized a free, short-term, trauma debriefing service for hospital workers in the “COVID zone.” He provided over 600 hours of counseling to healthcare personnel at every level of direct patient care.  Also, over the past 14 years, he has led many intensive workshops in Europe on trauma treatment, teaching mental health practitioners from more than 15 countries.

In addition, Dr. Fink has received special recognition for his teaching, service, scholarship, mentoring, leadership in race relations and clinical achievements.

“Over the years, I have found (Dr. Fink) to be a source of knowledge and wisdom, an enjoyable person to spend time with, and a generous soul,” said Dr. Jon Margerum-Leys, dean of OU’s School of Education and Human Services.

Dr. Fink said he looks forward to seeing how the new Child and Adolescent Graduate Certificate in Play Therapy program grows and develops under the leadership of Dr. Vannest and others.

“It’s great to see that same passion that for me was so motivating in developing and running the specialization, and to see it going forward,” he said.

The 12-month program will welcome its first cohort of students this summer.

To learn more about the play therapy program, visit Graduate Certificate in Play Therapy.

If you would like to support the play therapy program with a tax-deductible contribution, please visit OU Play Therapy Fund.