Meet The Lakeview Crew

Michael Bednarz, MD, attended University of Michigan, obtaining his Bachelors of Science in Biology with Honors in Biochemistry.  He also attended Wayne State School of Medicine where he received his Doctor of Medicine.  Dr.  Bednarz also completed a combined Residency Program with dual training in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry at Rush Presbyterian St. Like’s Medical Center in Chicago, IL.  Here, he also received training in Forensic Psychiatry.  He is a Licensed Physician and Surgeon, holds a Controlled Substance License, DEA License, and is board certified in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry.  As well as Psychiatrist and Medical Director of Lakeview Medical and Psychiatric Healthcare Dr. Bednarz also currently manages the psychiatric consultation service at Stroger Hospital located in Chicago, IL and is an attending Psychiatrist at Provident Hospital located in Chicago, IL. 

Accepting patients ages 8 and above.

Ashley Martin MSN, PMHNP-BC, FNP-BC is a lifetime resident of the Macomb area, graduating Macomb High School is 2006. She went on to get her Associates degree of Nursing at Spoon River College in 2009. From there, she completed her RN-BSN at WIU School of Nursing in 2012 then received her Family Nurse Practitioner in 2014 from the University of Illinois-Chicago. After working as an RN and Family Nurse Practitioner, Ashley saw the great need for patients with psychiatric illness such as depression and anxiety going unserved in the Macomb area. She then decided to get her Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and graduated from the University of St. Francis in 2018. With certification in both family and psychiatric medicine, Ashley uses her knowledge to provide compassionate holistic care.

Accepting patients ages 8 and above.

Ashley is a Macomb native and started her social services career working within the community while attending Macomb Jr.-Sr. High School for the Department of Human and Family Services. Since her time with DHS and while obtaining her associates degree in Liberal Arts from Spoon River College and bachelor's degree in Sociology from Western Illinois University, she has worked with reputable organizations in the area such as Bridgeway Inc. and West Central Illinois Special Education Cooperative. While studying for her Master's Degree in Social Work at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, she had the privilege of interning at Mental Health Centers of Western Illinois in Carthage, Illinois. Ashley also had an opportunity to study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa where she studied at Akeso Kenilworth Clinic, an inpatient psychiatric hospital on a dual diagnosis unit.  

After obtaining her MSW in December of 2015, Ashley began working in community mental health at Transitions of Western Illinois in Quincy, where she had a great start to her clinical social work career. Ashley began her forensic social work experience at Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility in early 2017 where she learned a great deal of clinical skills. Ashley started her journey at Outpatient Behavioral Health at Blessing Physician Services in July of 2019. After seeing a high need for mental health services in the McDonough County area and wanting to be closer to family, Ashley is excited to be part of the Lakeview team, right in Macomb, where it all began! 

Ashley implements strength based, client centered approach in therapy. She uses a wide range of evidence-based modalities to meet the needs of individuals and families. Some of the types of issues that Ashley helps clients address are symptoms of mood and anxiety disorders, PTSD, personality disorders and a wide range of interpersonal struggles. Ashley’s mission is to help empower individuals to lead more connected, healthy and fulfilled lives.  She finds therapist/ client relationships imperative to the process and believes that consistent collaboration with other professionals is important to foster humility and growth. 

Accepting clients 14 and above. 

Lynn Willard received a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Spanish from Illinois State University and started her career in providing services to Spanish-speaking clients in the Peoria, Illinois area.  From 1983 to 1990 she worked for Catholic Social Services (CSS), initially in the La Casa de Santa Maria Program, then in the adoption program.  While providing services to children in the process of transitioning from foster care to adoption, her passion for adoption and her desire to help children affected by sexual abuse evolved.  In 1992, she earned her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Illinois Urbana and accepted a position with Lutheran Social Services Inc. (LSSI) in the sexual abuse program. During this time, Lynn began to formulate a plan to open a child welfare agency, specializing in two areas - child sexual abuse and adoption. 

In November of 1992, ABC Counseling & Family Services, a non-profit child welfare agency,  was born. Lynn founded ABC after months of hard work, collaboration, and dedication, opening the 1st office in downtown Bloomington, IL. Her research in this market uncovered a significant need for specialized counseling in central Illinois, which led to staffing six additional offices in Decatur, Springfield, Champaign, and eventually Pekin and Peoria.  Lynn, serving as Executive Director of the agency, began the clinical program in Bloomington with a handful of clients and as contracts were developing, focused on strengthening the adoption program. She established a partnership with an adoption attorney from Urbana and developed relationships with attorneys all over the State of Illinois. Within the first year of providing adoption home studies and placements, more than 25 infants were placed in loving adoptive homes. 

Thirty years later, ABC Counseling is still the predominant agency in central Illinois providing specialized assessments and treatment for children affected by sexual abuse. 

Fast forward to 2017, when Lynn stepped down as Executive Director at ABC Counseling and came full circle back to resume her work as a sexual abuse therapist.  Her concentration was focused on evaluations/treatment for youth with sexual behavior problems (ages 6-18) and evaluations/treatment for survivors of sexual abuse (ages 4-18).  The treatment modality for youth with sexual behavior problems is primarily CBT, but a family systems approach is also utilized at the point in treatment the youth is ready to do apology work and at other times throughout treatment.  With survivors of sexual abuse, depending on the age of the child,  client-centered, trauma focused CBT, and psychodynamic approaches are the evidenced-based approaches typically used by Lynn.  Because a young child’s environment is typically revolved around play, Lynn uses various forms of play therapy and bibliotherapy in her work with children that have been sexually abused.

Over the 30 years at ABC and 9 years at the two child welfare agencies, CSS and LSSI, Lynn has worked with a variety of children and adults in need of counseling services.  She understands that grief and loss is a common theme seen over and over in adoptive clients, birth parents and families affected by sexual abuse.  Giving clients an understanding about the stages of grief, the impact grief has on daily functioning and that each person processes grief differently has made all the difference in the world to clients.

Additionally, Lynn uses education a tool to help parents and caretakers understand trauma.  Lynn developed and implemented psychoeducation classes to meet this need, including weekly topics such as signs and symptoms of sexual abuse, short term & long-term effects of sexual abuse, normal/abnormal sexual behaviors in children, how to parent victims and offenders living in the same household, etc. 

Lynn has a passion for working with children affected by trauma, parents coping with traumatized children, youthful offenders and couples struggling with infertility.  In her spare time, she has taught as an adjunct professor both at U of I Urbana and at Illinois State University and presented on various topics associated with her work to professionals. She will be presenting at the 2023 ILATSA conference in Elgin in March of 2023.

Christie Reynolds is a bilingual Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. She graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Family and Consumer Science. She earned her Masters in Counseling at Western Illinois University. Christie uses a myriad of theories when working with her clients: Family Systems Theory, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Her interests include working with trauma, anxiety, family of origin issues, assertiveness training, and multicultural concerns. Christie has been a practicing clinician in Macomb for over 14 years. Accepting clients 14 and above.