Staff Biographies

Our staff is diverse, each offering various approaches to personal growth and healing. We assist you in finding the professional who will best help you and your family.

Rick Atwater: M.S., LCPC, Director

Rick has been assisting people with their emotional and spiritual growth since 1972 in various settings from hospitals and agencies to private practice. He is the Co-Director of Northwest Community Counseling Services which he founded with his wife, Moe Ross in 1985. Rick is also the founder and owner of Employee Health Consultants, Inc., a company that specializes in comprehensive employee assistance services. Additionally, he lectures nationwide, has been published nationally and founded the Heroin Awareness Foundation which is dedicated to helping addicts and supporting their families. The Foundation provides educational resources and assists in increasing the awareness of the general public.

Rick has a general counseling practice and assists individuals and families with anxiety issues, men’s issues, relationship concerns and specializes in addictions issues. He is known for his extensive experience in facilitating substance abuse interventions, and he travels nationwide to assist individuals and families. His approach is direct and current behavior oriented. He supports the use of the twelve step programs where appropriate.

Rick graduated from George Williams College with an M.S. in Counseling Psychology in 1978 and was one of the earliest Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors (LCPC) in Illinois. He writes and responds to readers about addictions related topics in a column for the Northwest Herald called “Straight Talk” that he has been writing since 1984 (you may wish to view archived files of Straight Talk articles). Rick and his wife Moe, also work with couples through the Marriage Matrix designed to assist couples with the most difficult of issues.

E-mail: RickAtwater@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

Candace Sinclair: M.A., LCPC, Clinical Director

Candace Sinclair has been a licensed clinical professional counselor with Northwest Community Counseling Services since 1997. Previous experience includes mental health work in Michigan as well as positions in education and small business ownership. Her areas of focus include family, couples and individual counseling. A special focus is her, For the Love of Our Children, approach, helping parents respond rather than react to parenting challenges. She has Master’s degrees from Central Michigan University and Purdue University in professional counseling and in education, as well as specialized training in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) for trauma.

Working on present issues while making connections with the past and aiming for future goals, is the basis of her approach to therapy. She works from the premise that the increased integration of all aspects of self into a balanced whole can lead to truly knowing one’s purpose and following that path in this life. Toward that end, different methods of self awareness are presented as they seem fit to the client.

Candace has given talks in Illinois and Michigan on parenting, communication skills in relationships, and anger management. She is a member of Women in Management, American Counseling Association, Illinois Counseling Association, Illinois Mental Health Counseling Association, and International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors. Having been married over 35 years, she is the mother of two daughters and a grandmother.

E-mail: CandaceSinclair@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

Frank Morales: M.S.Ed., CRADC, MISA 2

Frank has worked in the human services field since 1974 as clinician, trainer, educator, consultant and mentor to adolescents and adults. He has a Master’s degree from Northern Illinois University in Counseling Psychology . He is certified at the interstate recipical level as a Substance Abuse Counselor (CRADC) and MISA 11. He has been contracted to consult with the staff in over thirty Department of Human Services agencies to develop clinical skills . Frank has received specialized training in three types of relapse prevention processes. Frank uses the framework of Motivational Interviewing and Stages of Change to successfully increase retention of new behavior of clients. When the situation warrants it he will facilitate various processes of trauma resolution to neutralize the emotional blocks to growth and healing. He has effectively mentored individuals in the transition in career and lifestyle challenges using a role-shifting model (Psychosynthesis process). Frank specializes in reducing anxiety with Cogntive Bio-energic processes. Many of his clients state that the cognitive restructuring approaches that he presents has helped them understand ways to increase responsiveness in difficult situations and liberate themselves from the limited perspectives of outworn perceptions. Frank will help educate couples in Compassionate Communication skills as a foundation to re-establish trust in relationships before three different styles of couples counseling is explored. He also leads Men’s Issues group for men that are willing to improve the challenges they face in relationships and work. He leads a group in relapse prevention to get to the core of relapse justifications.

Email: FrankMorales@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

Deborah Saban: LCPC, CHT

Deb has been a counselor with NWCC since 2007. Deb’s practice is diverse and includes individual, couples, and families. She provides short term counseling for Employee Assistance Programs and has been instrumental in substance abuse counseling for many. 

She bases her practice on three progressive, interpersonal, and heart-centered beliefs:

* Each person has both a sacred story and a sacred purpose. 

* Finding congruence among thoughts, feelings and actions offers the opportunity to clearly embrace and claim the abundance available to all of us.

* We hold our answers within and often benefit most from an insightful caring professional to assist in the process of ‘realizing’ the answers we seek. 

Deb is a graduate of National Louis University with her MS in Counseling. Enhancing her career as a licensed clinical professional counselor, she achieved certification in Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy TM, which heightened her deep connection with soul journeying and personal development. These unique professional insights provide respectful, compassionate and confidential guidance for each individual client. 

Email: DeborahSaban@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

April Joy Fischer: BA, CADC, Director of D.U.I Services

April Joy has always had a special drive to be of help to others. The challenges that she has faced in her own life experiences bring understanding and compassion to the forefront of her mission in helping others find inner peace. She believes that our happiness and prosperity begins with a process of using the tools that are available and finishes with the inner awareness that her experience and education has given her. What April Joy hopes to bring to those that cross her path is the ability to develop confidence, self love and wellness within themselves and to benefit from what she has learned and continues to learn while sharing and working in this field for the last 25 years.

April Joy graduated from Western Illinois University with a degree in Criminal Justice. She also has a degree in Alcohol and Substance Abuse. April Joy began her journey as a partner at Alternative Pathways Counseling Center for Nurturing the Spirit. She developed and trademarked a Law Enforcement Assistance Program known as L.E.A.P for law enforcement professionals and their families in helping them cope with the stress of this occupation and lifestyle. April’s training consists of many modalities. She is a Communication Specialist, along with a background in Nutrition, Domestic Violence, 12 step recovery and spirituality and motivational enhancement therapy to name a few, April relates well to children and adolescents as well as adults, to work with their stress, anxiety and depression.

April Joy feels life is not always easy for any of us but remembers well a quote that says. “We are reborn every morning. What we do TODAY is what matters most”. And so she strives, as she works with those that can use her expertise, to adhere to that it really is just “one day at a time”

Email: AprilFischer@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

Kristen C. Pryor: MS, LCPC, CDVP

Kristen Pryor has a broad range of skills and extensive counseling experience. While she is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and a Certified Domestic Violence Professional in the state of Illinois, she also works with teen dating violence, incest, trauma and abuse survivors, co-dependency, depression, anxiety, relationship issues and pre-marital counseling.

In a caring and non-judgmental environment, her process is to challenge a client’s perceptions, help them to identify the effects of their emotions, as well as develop new coping skills and behavioral alternatives to utilize when working through personal matters. While her therapy is influenced by empowerment and cognitive-behavioral models, she does not believe in a “one size fits all” approach. She has often been described as “the calm during the storm”, and this comfort and strength she provides is reassuring when a client is experiencing some sort of crisis.

Kristen earned her Master’s Degree in Counseling from National-Louis University. Her graduate work included couples and family counseling with adults, teens, and children using a solution-focused model. She is a member of the Illinois Counseling Association (Couples and Family Counseling Division, and Illinois Mental Health Counselor Division). She is happily married and has a five year old daughter.

Email: KristenPryor@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

Tracy Soos: M.A., LPC, CADC

Tracy is a Master’s level Licensed Professional Counselor and a Certified Addictions Counselor. She has extensive experience in mental health, addiction issues, interventions , assessments and works with families, adults and adolescents individually and in groups.

Her approach to the therapeutic process is individualized and client-centered. She supports the 12-step approach, cognitive behavioral interventions, and believes happiness can be attained and optimism can be learned. Tracy appreciates the body-mind connection and works with the “whole person.” She is known to be very respectful of each person’s individual needs and situation while working through the process of change and growth.

In addition to addictions and substance abuse counseling, Tracy also works with self esteem and body image challenges, anxiety, stress, relationship issues, codependency, depression, college-age transition issues and personal growth and development.

Tracy believes that our difficulties in life are also our opportunities to grow and change. She is passionate about helping others be the people they want to be. Her personal background and professional training offer her clients a deep understanding of a wide-range of challenges so many of us face in life, as well as a path to change.

Email: TracySoos@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

Eleanor Jackson, M.ED. CAADC

Note: Eleanor takes only self-pay and works only in our Woodstock office.

Eleanor Jackson has been licensed in the field of addictions for 25 yrs. She started out as a school teacher and quickly realized that chemicals and emotional problems interfered with a person’s ability to learn. She began giving direct services to students in the school setting and also within the agencies where she worked. Eleanor has been trained in “Active Parenting” and has presented many workshops to help parents better understand the difficult job of raising children. She is certified in the wide range of eating disorders including compulsive overeating and believes that recovery is a journey of mind, body and soul.

Eleanor is known for her down-to-earth practical wisdom. As a mother and grandmother, she not only draws from her professional experience and training, but also from what she calls plain old common sense. She is relentless in her desire to help people be a little more than they ever dreamed they could be and face the issues that stop them from living productive lives. Eleanor loves people but admits that her love for her dogs runs a close second!

Moe Ross: M.Ed. and Co-Director

Note: Moe accepts only self-pay.

Moe Ross has one desire. She wants everyone in the whole world to wake up and see how blessed we are to be alive. She also believes that this awakening requires something of us and we must pay a price; we must learn how to step back from the fast-paced outer world and find the place of calm in our hearts that offers a peace beyond our understanding. She is convinced that we all want the same thing --- to love and to be loved. Therefore, Moe specializes in helping individuals to clarify their values and align their beliefs with their everyday life. She is a seasoned meditation teacher and physicians often refer their patients to her to begin an inner journey to deal with the messes we make of our lives in a million different ways

In addition to individual counseling sessions, Moe offers intensives which are individually designed and may last for up to 2-days with the purpose of inviting one's story to emerge in a setting offering various modalities for healing. Moe also works with couples wanting to learn from each other through the challenges offered in intimate relationships.

Moe is a published author, teaches creative writing and is the founder of Miographies. She has been a therapist for over 35 years, lectures nationally and her greatest achievement is receiving the “Happy Patient” award by the University of Illinois Retina Department when she suddenly experienced significant loss of her eye sight. This award represents her sincere commitment to being grateful for life — no matter what happens.

E-mail: MoeRoss@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

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