Pathway Counseling Ministries, Inc. was established in the spring of 1999 with a single purpose: to make professional, faith-based counseling available to anyone who needed it, in partnership with the local church.

Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, the local church had no counseling of its own. Every need was either referred out into the community or absorbed by the pastor himself — one more responsibility on a man already carrying the church. Families waited. Pastors burned out. Pathway was built to change that.

Counseling, brought back into the church

Pathway was created as an integrated auxiliary of the local church so that counseling offices could be established inside church buildings. That did two things at once: it made counseling more affordable, and it put counseling back where people already trusted enough to walk in.

It also lifted a burden off pastors and their staffs — the individual, couple, marital, and family counseling they were never trained or resourced to provide.

From the beginning, Pathway used an income-based fee structure. No one was turned away from help they had asked for.

No one was turned away from the help they came looking for.

For its first six years, Pathway provided individual, couples, marital, and family counseling across a wide range of needs: anxiety, stress, depression, behavioral issues in children and teens, conflict resolution, infidelity, eating disorders, trauma in all its forms, and addiction.

Two programs that changed who we are

The severity of what we were seeing in the counseling room led Pathway to build two new programs.

The Butterfly House

Individual and group counseling for single moms — women single by choice, by divorce, by death, or by the abandonment of a spouse or partner. The work centered on building healthy relationships, healing from trauma, communication, interviewing skills, financial planning, and finding a community of support. Group counseling was provided for their children as well.

Defender Ministries

Defender was built for parents raising children as the internet and the cell phone exploded around them. Seminars and trainings ran in local Christian schools and in living rooms, where families invited their friends and neighbors to learn how the technology worked and how to keep their households safe. For its time, Defender was on the cutting edge of that work.

Defender also created an animated teaching series for elementary-age children, Disciple Now weekend materials and merchandise for church groups across the Southeast, and lessons and seminars for collegiate ministries addressing internet pornography and its effect on students and their relationships.

Both programs ran for more than seven years and reached hundreds of individuals and families.

Current Counseling at Pathway

Currently, Pathway provides individual, marital, couples, and group counseling.

The individual, marital, and couples counseling is provided both, in person and virtually.  Each therapist determine their own schedules and whether they provide in person or virtual sessions for their clients.  

Dr. Barbara provides virtual sessions for all of her sessions.  

She is kind and compassionate and counts it a great joy and privilege to be invited into the lives and hearts of others.  She believes that God is the final authority in all matters and that anyone, regardless of current circumstances, can live a life filled with dignity, peace, and joy.  Barbara listens with her heart and then provides guidance through the principles of God's Word.  She knows that what the Lord has done for her He will do for others – Fix the broken, and show His strength in and through their own weaknesses.

Her areas of counseling specialties include women’s issues (especially depression, abuse, and anxiety), couples and family therapy and mediation, as well as adolescent and teen counseling.  Barbara has a special burden and compassion for ministry wives, having served all of her adult life in that position.  She offers a safe place of relief from the isolation and burdens that those women carry.

Caitlin provides virtual, in person, and group counseling

She believes humans are wired for connection, yet knows that many people feel out of place or alone when surrounded by others. She has seen where individuals who have gone through complex trauma, or who have been diagnosed with Autism and/or ADHD, have been told that something is wrong with them – that they are defective in some way. These critical messages and shame begin to wreck havoc in their lives and infiltrate the very core of how they see themselves, often leading the person to wear a mask and become extremely hard on themselves. However, shame does not have to get the final word. Out of her own story comes her goal as a therapist: to empower the voices of those who have been silenced, to help those who believe they do not have a future find hope, to restore a sense of humanity to those who have been treated as objects, and to show them that their past does not have to define their future.

Her areas of speciality include working with survivors of complex trauma or abuse, as well as anyone who deals with anxiety, depression, perfectionism, or unhealthy relational patterns. She also specializes in working with teens and adults diagnosed with Autism and/or ADHD, especially adults who were recently diagnosed and are now seeing their lives through an entirely different lens. In session, she works with individuals to change unhelpful thought patterns, identify and remove critical internal messages, develop healthy relationships, learn how to communicate feelings assertively, and uncover who they actually are (below the mask that is often worn every day). Caitlin does individual and group therapy with teens, young adults, and adults.

In addition to the counseling she provides, Caitlin leads the mission phase of Pathway with Kintsugi Care and creating the new program known as Begin Again.

Charles provides both in person and virtual sessions 

Charles has been leading Pathway since its inception in April of 1999.  His heart has always been to provide Christ centered Professional counseling to everyone who needs help, regardless of their ability to pay.

He provides both in person and virtual sessions for individuals, couples, and marital counseling.  He covers all major issues, such as, anxiety, depression, infidelity, communication and conflict resolution. He also leads the Resolute program offered through the Faith based ministries on the campus of the University of Central Florida.