Parenting Counseling & Support
When a child is struggling, parents often feel pressure to find the right answer immediately. Parenting counseling creates space to slow down, notice patterns, and understand what may be shaping behavior, connection, conflict, and stress in your home.
Our work is rooted in Scripture and centered on Jesus. That does not mean reducing a child to a behavior or a parent to a hard day. It means bringing the whole family story into a relationship where truth, grace, responsibility, repair, and hope can all have a place.
- Anxiety, overwhelm, and big emotions
- Behavior, boundaries, and everyday conflict
- Family communication and sibling stress
- School challenges and life transitions
- Adoption, foster care, and blended-family questions
- Neurodivergence and a child’s unique needs
- Growing steadier connection at home
What parent coaching can look like
Conversations may focus on communication, routines, boundaries, responding to big emotions, working with a child’s needs, or deciding what support would be most helpful next. You can come with a specific concern or simply a sense that your family needs more room to breathe.
The goal is not a perfect family. It is more understanding, steadier connection, and practical next steps that fit the people in your home.
You do not have to have everything figured out before reaching out.
A Christian perspective can offer a meaningful framework for love, limits, responsibility, repair, grace, and the dignity of each person in the family. We can begin with what feels most important right now.
Getting started
Tell us a little about what you are looking for. We will help you understand the next step and whether in-person or online counseling makes the most sense.
Looking at family life with greater understanding
Parenting concerns often grow around everyday moments: transitions, disagreements about expectations, repeated conflict, or uncertainty about how much independence to allow. A useful conversation considers the child’s stage of life, the demands on the household, and what parents have already tried.
Support may focus on communicating expectations, responding more thoughtfully during conflict, or finding a more workable approach to family routines. Parents can also bring questions about blended-family relationships, foster or adoptive family life, and differences in parenting approaches. Counselor fit depends on the particular concern.
Teresa brings foster-parenting and teaching experience to online support. Madison’s autism work includes consultation with parents and families. For that focus, see support for parents of autistic children and teens. For conversations involving several family members, explore family counseling.
Counselors whose experience informs this service
Madison Beresford
Madison has more than 14 years of experience walking with individuals, couples, teens, and families. He holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Christian Counseling and NCCA board certifications in Cognitive Therapy and Integrated Marriage & Family Therapy. His areas of focus include trauma, relationships, addiction recovery, and autism; he is autistic himself.
Desiree Soucy
Desiree brings more than 20 years of ministry experience supporting people through relational pain and difficult experiences. She holds an M.S. in Pastoral Care & Counseling and NACC board certification in Pastoral Counseling. Her areas of focus include trauma, marriage, divorce recovery, blended families, and identity in Christ.
Teresa Lockwood
Teresa provides online biblical counseling and mentoring for women and teen girls. Her background includes teaching, eight years as a certified foster parent, and training in Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). She supports people navigating grief, rejection, uncertainty, and foster or adoptive family life.
An informed next step
Read the linked profiles for each counselor’s education, experience, and areas of focus. Our public reviews offer additional perspectives from people who have connected with JoyCare; individual experiences vary.
Start through our inquiry page or call 919-885-6232. A brief description of the concern and preferred format is enough to begin. See the FAQ for information about first appointments, counselor selection, and our Christian approach.