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: Co-Director, M.S., LCPC

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 recently founded a not-for-profit organization called the "Heroin Awareness Foundation."

Rick works with addictions-related issues, both family members and chemical dependents. He works with opiate addicts and also has a general practice with families and individuals. Rick graduated from George Williams College with an M.S. in Counseling Psychology in 1978 and was one of the first Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors in Illinois (LCPC). He writes and responds to readers in a column for the Northwest Herald called "Straight Talk" that has run regularly for the last 18 years. (You may wish to view an archived file of “Straight Talk” articles.)

E-mail: RickAtwater@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

Moe Ross: Co-Director, M.Ed.

In 1975 Moe conducted her very first counseling session without supervision. She was 27 years old then and remembers not really having a clue how to help someone except through "textbook knowledge." Almost 30 years later, Moe still doesn't believe SHE can help people; however, she believes people can help themselves once they have a deeper understanding of their human story and develop a spiritual practice. Moe specializes today in assisting people in clarifying their spiritual beliefs and inspiring people to align their beliefs and knowing with their everyday life. She offers phone sessions as well as intensives. Intensives are individually designed and may last for up to 3-days with the purpose of inviting one's story to emerge in a setting offering various modalities for healing. Moe Ross holds a masters degree in counseling from Washington State University. She has served on the staff with the University of Wisconsin System, lectured nationwide, is a published author and founder of Miographies, www.miographies.com. Moe can be reached directly at her desk in her studio, the loft of an 1858 carriage house, 815-356-9081. She consciously decided not to participate in the managed care/insurance process. She is however, sometimes open to barter.

E-mail: MoeRoss@miographies.com

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

Candace Sinclair has been a licensed clinical professional counselor with Northwest Community Counseling Services for 7 years. Previous experience includes mental health work in Michigan as well as positions in education and small business ownership. Her areas of focus include family therapy, group work, couples and individual counseling. 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).

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 30 years, she is also the mother of two daughters in their 20’s.

E-mail: CandaceSinclair@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

Frank Morales: M.S.Ed., CRADC, MISA 2

Frank has worked in the DCFS, Criminal Justice, Mental Health, Drug treatment and EAP services field for thirty years. He has a Master’s degree from Northern Illinois University in Counseling Psychology and Adult Education. He received the intensive DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) training in January 2001 and is certified in Illinois as a Substance Abuse Counselor (CRADC). He has been presenting groups and individual sessions on men’s issues, grief, anger, intensive relapse prevention and success-focused thought restructuring for anxiety disorders. Many of the participants in his sessions have commented that the thought restructuring approaches presented, helped them understand ways to increase their responsiveness in difficult crisis situations. In his practice he specializes in heart centered emotional intelligence approaches that increase the application of the alternatives to self-defeating habit patterns. He has cultivated specific programs on “Coming to terms with the End of Life issues” and clearing up unfinished business for a more peaceful release of grief for families or individuals.

Email: FrankMorales@NorthwestCommunityCounseling.com

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Last modified: September 16, 2008