Believing that a relationship with Christ is central for all healing, we surround these teens and families with a staff who love Christ and them and seek to build relational bridges for Christ to bring the necessary healing in both the teen and family.

We seek to see the teen grow spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, socially, and physically. This care is systematically integrated daily among our houseparents, counselors, and teachers with the ultimate goal of seeing both the teen and family healed, restored, and reunified.

Our program has been modeled from the best practices of some exemplary children’s programs in the country. Through our years of experience we have also crafted our own unique components which have improved our effectiveness.

The Joy House program has three integrated components: home life, education, and counseling. These elements work in concert to promote the possibility for change in the lives of teens and their parents. We are 100% successful in presenting truth, tried and tested methods, and offering people a different option. If these options are accepted, it may change a person’s life.

Our motto verse is, “You will show me the path of life; In your presence is fullness of joy; At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11, with this in mind the Joy House staff strives to make every action in its program relational and filled with God’s love that will lead these teens and families to find true Joy in the abiding Presence of Christ. 

HOMELIFE

In the Bible, God teaches us that the concept of family is crucial to the survival and strength of his children. At The Joy House, we put that concept to work in our daily routines. A loving and devoted Christian couple resides in each of our homes, where they nurture, guide, and care for the teens.

Our house parents and teens participate in family activities such as daily devotions, family meals, regular worship services, and recreational activities. They develop a close bond with the teens and at the same time, promote and encourage healing in the teens’ own family relationships.

Our ministry places significant importance on restoring and healing the teen’s family. Each teen is home every other weekend, and depending on their status in the program, may return home every weekend. They also are home for holiday and school breaks.

EDUCATION

Our program includes a school accredited by the Georgia Accrediting Commission, which has been part of our program since its inception. We are consistently working to improve the quality of education we provide to the teens we serve. Many of our residents have educational gaps for various reasons, including poor school attendance and/or lack of motivation. Each teen is evaluated upon entrance to the Joy House to determine their individual academic needs. An individualized academic program is then developed to meet those needs.

Our goal is to not only help the student reach their grade level through an individualized program, but to go further by helping our children improve their study habits and therefore improving their overall academic performance. We strive to create a school culture and environment that gives our children a chance for success that they would never have in a larger school setting.

As they reach the highest phases of the program we work with their parents in transitioning them back into the school they will be attending on their return home. This includes interacting with the school personnel where they will be attending to work out credits and schedules.

Our mission is to encourage, teach and motivate the students to become self-confident and self-sufficient as they are re-introduced into whatever the next phase of their life may be.

COUNSELING

When teens come to the Joy House, they are usually unable to properly respond to authority and have trouble relating constructively to their peers. Our goal in counseling is to identify the negative behavior patterns being exhibited in the family and help each family member learn new ways of relating to each other.

A professional counselor develops and begins to implement a treatment program geared to the special needs of that teen and his or her family. Our counselors meet regularly with the children and family members in individual and family sessions throughout the child’s stay.

The counselors work in partnership with the house parents, teachers, and child’s family to ensure that the plan established for each child and his or her family is consistently followed.

In addition to the parental/family counseling we provide a required parenting group for our parents each week. The purpose of these parenting groups is twofold: 1) provide a network of support among our parents and 2) to help them develop skills to be more effective as parents. All of our teaching is centered in a thorough Christian worldview of the family.

A unique feature of The Joy House program is the strong commitment we require from the parents in working with us to get their child back home functioning successfully. The parents are our partners in seeing Christ bring healing for both them and their teen. We believe we must be able to work not only with the child, but with the family if we are going to achieve success

Our desire is to express love to these parents and teach them Biblical principles through intensive individual and family counseling, parenting groups, and strong spiritual guidance that is designed to heal their fractured family relationships.