Gina Reyes Ellison, LMHC, LCPC
Gina has been a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois since 2004 and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Iowa since 2017. Gina does individual therapy, couple/marital therapy, and family therapy. She treats people aged 12 and older. She enjoys working with the geriatric population because she loves listening to their life stories and values their knowledge and perspectives. “We can learn a lot from them.” In fact, she learns from all of her clients. Gina uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), meaning she helps people recognize how their thoughts and actions can change their emotions. She is particularly interested in how people’s satisfaction with their relationships impacts their emotions.
To those new to therapy, Gina says “take the plunge.” She recognizes how anxiety provoking it can be to start, but she wants clients to know that she’s simply an objective person there to talk to, and it’s a confidential, judgement-free zone. She also notes that, despite popular belief, therapists are not there to solve your problems. “Counseling is really just talking through things,” she says, “we help you come to your own decisions.”
About Gina
Gina was born and raised in The Quad Cities. She graduated from Moline High School. Gina’s interest in psychology began in high school. She was always the “shoulder to cry on”, and people would tell her their problems, saying “You’re so easy to talk to.” That was when she decided to pursue a psychology career. When she took her high school psychology class, she used it as a litmus test. “If I get an “A” in this class,” she told herself, “Then I’m meant to keep going in psychology. If I don’t, I’ll choose something else.” Fortunately, she got an “A” and declared her major Psychology as soon as she got to Loyola University of Chicago. She earned her bachelor's degree with honors from Loyola in 1992. While studying at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she developed a passion for working with teenagers after she did a one-year internship working at the state psychiatric hospital for adolescents. Gina also spent a year training at a rehabilitation center with patients who had strokes and traumatic brain injuries. Many struggled with paralysis, cognitive problems, such as memory loss and impaired concentration, and depression. She worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis, so she has substantial experience with and respect for veterans. Her father is a Vietnam Veteran. In 1994, she earned her master's degree in clinical psychology from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gina has been working as a therapist for over 30 years. She believes every person has their own, unique story to tell and feels privileged when people share their most intimate feelings and experiences with her. She is respectful of all cultures and is a LGBTQ+ ally.
Fun Facts
Gina loves traveling. She and her husband, David, have been on 15 cruises together. They have traveled by sea to Alaska, Hawaii, and The Mediterranean, Baltic, and Caribbean Seas. She loves going to the theatre, concerts, museums, movies, and a few sporting events. She also enjoys art, reading, scrapbooking, playing games with family and friends, and spending time with her black cat, Cleopatra.
