Counseling team in Bettendorf, IA

Meet Our Team

Compassion Counseling Inc. is staffed with highly qualified behavioral health professionals whom have many years of experience and expertise.

Sasha T. - Bettendorf & Muscatine, IA - Compassion Counseling Inc

Sasha Trice, LMHC

Sasha is an experienced licensed therapist who is compassionate, relatable, and empathetic. Sasha received a BA degree in psychology and received a master’s degree in Education from Western Illinois University in 2010. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Iowa and a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois. Sasha has over 9 years of practice and experience in community mental health, working with the early childhood population (ages birth to 5), school-aged children, adults, and families. Sasha specializes in counseling related to issues of trauma, parental and relational stress, self-esteem, adjustment disorders, anxiety, depression, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, multicultural concerns, and more.

Sasha believes in the power of relationship and connection, and strives to provide a positive, accepting, and strength-based environment for clients. Sasha utilizes Adlerian theory, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Conscious discipline techniques, and Theraplay principles for therapeutic practice. Sasha provides a warm, caring, nurturing, and compassionate environment to enhance the feeling of emotional safety and acceptance for everyone she encounters.

Favorite Quote:

“Try to be the rainbow in someone’s cloud”

Maya Angelou

Erica Willits, LMHC

Erica earned her master’s degree from Western Illinois University in counseling. Erica earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southern Illinois University. Much of her clinical experience has been working with school aged children in community mental health. She also has experience working with adults with varied areas of concern, such as anxiety, depression, grief, women’s issues and self-esteem.

Erica would like to create an accepting environment to work through life’s challenges. She believes that therapy is a collaborative process, where we work together to generate change, achieve goals and engage in personal growth.

Favorite quote:

"Believe you can and you’re halfway there."

-Theodore Roosevelt

Sonya W. - Bettendorf & Muscatine, IA - Compassion Counseling Inc

Toshia J. - Bettendorf & Muscatine, IA - Compassion Counseling Inc

Toshia Johnson, LMHC

I'm an experienced mental health therapist, licensed in Iowa with over 17 years of experience. I graduated from Western Illinois University with a Master’s of Science in Agency Counseling. I see therapy as a collaborative process between a client and a therapist and enjoy working with clients who desire to know more about themselves and are open to the possibilities that a strong therapeutic relationship can develop. Creating a sense of empowerment, self-worth, and self-understanding is what I hope to build with my clients. I have worked extensively with children, families and couples from diverse backgrounds, in such areas of concerns including ADHD, mood disorders, multicultural issues, trauma, family of origin issues, marriage/relationship difficulties and just plain life.

My counseling style is warm, honest and interactive. I believe in treating others with respect, sensitivity, and compassion and my approach combines cognitive-behavioral, solution focused, and mindfulness counseling. It takes courage to ask for help, but if you are willing to take that chance, I am here to support and empower you.

I am available in our Bettendorf office for appointments.

Favorite Quote:

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."

-Plato, Greek philosopher

Debbie James, LMHC

Debbie is a licensed mental health counselor in Iowa and has her national certification through the National Board for Certified Counselors. Originally from the Chicago area, Augustana College brought her to the Quad Cities. There, she earned her BA Degree with majors in Social Work and Spanish. After 30 years of work experience in the field, she earned her MS Degree in Counseling from Western IL University in 2012.

The bulk of her career has been in corrections and restorative justice programming, working with clients facing many stigmas, including mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence and those with criminal histories. She helps empower people to gain insight and skills, using mindfulness techniques to bridge these two. She assists them in exploring and making effective choices in their lives. Her theoretical foundation consists of cognitive behavioral, solution focused and reality therapies. However, she adapts her approach to best meet the needs of each individual she is privileged to work with.

Debbie’s specialties include working with adults in the areas of stress and anger management, anxiety, depression, suicide prevention, grief and loss and self-esteem. She listens with her heart and provide a comfortable and safe space to share. She encourages those she works with to take life one day at a time and they often hear her say that it may even need to be one minute at a time. Debbie is a positive person, uses positive psychology and reinforce strengths in all, helping clients build on successes. She promotes wellness and a healthy lifestyle, enjoying long distance running in her free time.

Favorite Quote:

"As you move through life, leave a wake of kindness…"

-Margaret Hale

Debbie J. - Bettendorf & Muscatine, IA - Compassion Counseling Inc

Vanessa Pugh, LMHC

Vanessa is a licensed mental health counselor in the state of Iowa, a licensed clinical professional counselor in the state of Illinois, and is board-certified by the National Board for Certified Counselors. Vanessa received her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Upper Iowa University and her Master of Arts degree in clinical mental health counseling from Adams State University. Vanessa has had several years of experience working in a community mental health setting prior to her employment at Compassion Counseling Inc. She specializes in working with adults and adolescents with anxiety, depression and other mood disorders, trauma, self-esteem issues, relationship concerns, anger management, adjustment disorders, and other presenting concerns.

Vanessa recognizes that seeking help is a vulnerable process and strives to create a friendly, compassionate, and supportive environment for her clients. Vanessa utilizes a variety of modalities in her work in order to best suit the needs of each individual client. These modalities include client-centered, cognitive-behavioral, solution-focused, dialectical behavior therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and mindfulness-based modalities.

Favorite quote:

“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Vanessa Pugh, LMHC

Favorite quote:

“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Charles King, LMFT

Charles has been working in the mental health field since 2017. During this time, he has worked with very diverse populations in multiple settings. He is empathetic and self-aware. He holds a Master's in Divinity and a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from Amridge University in 2017. He is licensed in Illinois, Iowa, and Utah. He has 5 years of experience working with individuals in acute crisis, while working as a therapists in an inpatient setting, as well as 3+ years of experience in an outpatient setting.

Charles specializes in improving self-awareness and personal accountability, in order to improve quality of life and relationships. He uses whatever tools are most likely to be of use with the client, drawing upon Dialectic Behavioral Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy and others. He works most often with adolescents and adults, ranging in age between 13 and 55. He is a self-professed geek therapist, and believes that we all geek out about something. Tapping into that passion provides a great resource for growth and healing.

Charles has accumulated 12 years of marriage to the same person, as well as having the terrifyingly wonderful opportunity to be the father for a soon to be 9 y/o neurodivergent son and a precocious, soon to be 5 y/o daughter. He has 12 years’ worth of experience in the US Navy, both active and reserves, during which time his most memorable experiences were a 10-month deployment to Djibouti, Africa, and a month each in Japan and Korea.

Favorite Quote:

“Do or do not, there is no try!”

- Yoda (Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back)

Vicki Hall, tLMHC

Vicki Is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (tLMHC) in Iowa and is also a National Board Certified Counselor (NBCC). Vicki earned a Master of Education Degree (MSEd) in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Western Illinois University in Moline, IL and a Bachelor of Science in Human Development from Warner Pacific College (now University) in Portland, OR.

The majority of Vicki’s work has been with clients who are experiencing grief, loss, and trauma. These experiences include marriage and family relationships difficulties, parenting challenges, domestic and sexual abuse, loss of health, death of loved ones, previous incarceration, depression and anxiety. Vicki strives to be a multi-culturally sensitive and empowering counselor who joins with her clients in the discovery and creation of meaning making in their lives.

As a practitioner in the Humanistic Tradition of counseling, Vicki is primarily a Person-Centered counselor who provides encouragement, empathetic listening, unconditional acceptance, and genuine relationship with her clients. She believes that her clients know themselves and their needs best and helps them to increase their self-esteem and self-efficacy to facilitate growth and clarify their self[1]understanding. Vicki creates and environment of safety where clients can open themselves to experiences that will create positive changes in their lives. Believing that all people will experience the highs and lows of life, just because we are all human, Vicki also draws on the concepts from Existential Humanistic, Solution Focused, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapies. We cannot control the things that happen to us in life—only our responses to those universal human experiences.

In sessions Vicki uses a variety of techniques in individually tailored sessions that might include grounding and mindfulness techniques, narrative therapy techniques, creating art, world view mapping as well as plenty of client led discussion in a supportive, encouraging, and non-judgmental environment of safety and peacefulness.

Favorite Quote:

“The meaning of life is to give life meaning!”

-Viktor Frankl

Vicki’s heartbeat is that of a devoted wife and mother. She enjoys cooking creative meals and desserts that are inspired by her travels. She also relaxes by piecing quilt tops and is a collector of Depression Era Glassware. Her favorite sweet treat is lemon gelato, and she hopes to add a miniature poodle puppy to her family in the near future.

Pennee Reyman, LMHC

Pennee graduated with a BSW from the University of Iowa and earned her MSEd in counseling at Western Illinois University with a certificate in Marriage and Family counseling. She is certified through the National Board of Certified Counselors and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Iowa. She spent seventeen years in a community mental health setting prior to employment with Compassion Counseling. Her clinical experience has been primarily working with individuals (18 – 80 yrs) and couples. Pennee’s theories of practice include Cognitive Behavioral, REBT, Choice, and Solution-focused therapies in areas of anxiety, depression, adjustment, aging, grief and loss, self-esteem issues, co-occurring issues and maintaining sobriety, and relationship dynamics.

Pennee believes that the foundation of therapy is a collaborative relationship that feels safe and accepting and includes respectful challenges, emotional support, and positive changes. She believes changing how you think changes how you feel.

Favorite Quote:

“You live what you believe.”