Journey to Hope Counseling

What Journey to Hope Counseling does

Journey to Hope Counseling, LLC is a privately held, faith-based Christian counseling practice founded on January 31, 2011 by Susie Walden and headquartered in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The firm operates as a single-location LLC under founder/Managing Partner Susie Walden (LPC, NCC), with one additional licensed professional counselor (Lyndsay Itoh, LPC, NCC) and a small support team covering operations, life coaching, information technology, and administration. Its principal offerings are individual, couples, and family counseling; specialized group programs (anger management, co-parenting, grief support, process therapy); Prepare-Enrich facilitator training; life coaching; and telecounseling via a HIPAA-compliant Zoom configuration with a TherapyPortal-powered client portal for electronic intake forms and digital signatures. Ancillary service elements include canine counseling assistants and integration with multiple insurance panels and faith-based community partnerships.

The business model is fee-for-service and insurance-reimbursed clinical care. Revenue is generated per-session from insurance co-pays collected at time of service (with the practice filing claims) plus hourly fee-for-service payments; group programs (notably the quarterly two-Saturday Anger Management Course at $169 reservation plus optional $87.50 court documentation fee) and life coaching provide episodic revenue layers. Discipline economics for new hires follow a 65/35 split with $40,000–$70,000 earnings potential. Go-to-market is community-led and referral-driven rather than demand-gen funded: client acquisition flows through Stafford Crossing Community Church, local faith and recovery community partners (Teen Challenge of Fredericksburg, Beauty for Ashes Women and Children's Home), seven insurance networks, and an active Squarespace-hosted website/blog plus Facebook presence. There is no disclosed external funding; the firm is founder- and family-controlled.

Operationally, the practice is migrating from its original 15-year home at 307 Lafayette Blvd to a new suite at 1320 Central Park Blvd, Suite 200 in the Central Park corporate center effective March 2, 2026, and is actively recruiting a third Virginia-licensed therapist to expand capacity. Strategic posture is steady-state small-practice growth: deepening payer access (recent Tricare East certification), exploiting hybrid in-person/virtual delivery to extend reach, and selectively expanding professional training and international ministry-linked programming.

Name

Journey to Hope Counseling

Legal name

Journey to Hope Counseling, LLC

Website

https://journeytohopecounseling.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Journey to Hope Counseling, LLC is a privately held, faith-based Christian counseling practice in Fredericksburg, Virginia, founded in 2011 by Susie Walden, providing individual, couples, and family therapy, anger management, grief and co-parenting groups, telecounseling, and life coaching to insurance and fee-for-service clients in the greater Fredericksburg area.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mental Health Counseling Services

NAICS

Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians) (621330)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDALAFAB

Mental Health Counseling & Psychotherapy Services

Education/Student Services & Campus Operations/Student Health, Counseling & Wellness Services

SECONDARYHLADAHAL

Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Hospice-Affiliated/Independent)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Elder Care & Long-Term Care/Hospice & Palliative Care (Home/Facility-Based)

Keywords

• Individual counseling services
• Couples family therapy
• Anger management course
• Telecounseling sessions
• Christian counseling practice

Headquarters

HQ city

Fredericksburg

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Individual and Family Counseling: Hourly counseling sessions billed to insurance or paid fee-for-service. Insurance clients pay co-pay at time of service; practice files insurance claims. Fee-for-service clients pay practice hourly rate.
2. Anger Management Course: Two-Saturday course (2 weeks apart, 9 AM-1 PM each session). $169 reservation fee to hold spot, additional $87.50 for court-ordered certificate and letter. Payment options include session-by-session, payment in full, or 50% deposit.
3. Counselor Training: Training for counselors, pastors, and others interested in working with couples through Prepare-Enrich Curriculum. Offered when sufficient demand exists.
4. Co-Parenting, Grief Support, and Process Therapy Groups: Group therapy sessions offered as part of counseling services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Journey to Hope Counseling is a faith-based private counseling practice that delivers mental health and wellness services including individual counseling for adults, adolescents, and children; couples and family therapy; a quarterly group Anger Management Course; telecounseling via HIPAA-compliant Zoom; Co-Parenting, Grief Support, and Process Therapy Groups; life coaching; and Prepare-Enrich facilitator training. The practice operates on a hybrid in-person and virtual model from Fredericksburg, Virginia, accepting insurance from seven major payors in addition to fee-for-service clients.

Product overview

Journey to Hope Counseling is a faith-based private counseling practice offering a comprehensive suite of mental health and wellness services. The core offerings include individual counseling (for adults, adolescents, and children), couples and family counseling, and group programs. Key programs include the Anger Management Course (a 7-session group course offered quarterly), Telecounseling via HIPAA-compliant Zoom/FaceTime, Co-Parenting and Grief Support courses, and Process Therapy Groups. The practice also incorporates Canine Counseling Assistants (therapy dogs) and offers Life Coaching services. Additional services include Prepare Enrich Counselor Training for professionals. The practice operates with a hybrid in-person/virtual schedule and serves clients with insurance coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Optima/Sentara, Cigna/Evernorth, Multiplan, United Health Care, and Tricare.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Individual Counseling Services One-on-one counseling services for adults, adolescents, and children addressing stress management, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, adjustment issues, communication problems, career counseling, stage-of-life issues, addiction and recovery, and trauma including PTSD, domestic violence, sexual trauma, and disaster mental health.
• Couples and Family Counseling Marriage counseling, relationship counseling, and family therapy addressing relationship issues, communication problems, and family dynamics; includes Prepare-Enrich assessments and Gottman Couples Training-based approaches.
• Anger Management Course

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Prepare-EnrichcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSusie offers training for counselors, pastors, and others interested in working with couples through the Prepare-Enrich Curriculum. Seminars are offered when there is sufficient demand. The practice connects clients and trains facilitators for churches and counseling practices.
• Zoom (with HIPAA Compliance)coreTechnology or IntegrationTelecounseling platform used for virtual counseling sessions. Zoom provides HIPAA-compliant business associate agreement for healthcare customers, with Zoom responsible for administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to PHI.
• National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC)coreOthersBoth Susie Walden and Lyndsay Itoh hold Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC) credentials through NBCC. Susie completed all coursework for doctoral program at Liberty University in the NBCC track.
• Gottman InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSusie has completed Levels I, II, and III of Gottman Couples Training as well as courses on Trauma and Affair Recovery and Couples and Addiction Recovery. She is working toward Certification as a Gottman therapist/trainer.
• Stafford Crossing Community ChurchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary church partnership. Susie joined the church's Care and Counseling ministry in 2007 before founding Journey to Hope in 2011. Andy and Susie serve as small group leaders. Church provides referral pipeline for faith-based counseling clients.
• Teen Challenge of FredericksburgminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSusie endorses the work of Teen Challenge of Fredericksburg. Plans exist to take the Anger Management Course to Jamaica Teen Challenge. Both Susie and Sharla are adoptive parents to exchange students from India with connections to Bombay Teen Challenge.
• Beauty for Ashes Women and Childrens HomeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSusie endorses the work of Beauty for Ashes Women and Childrens Home. Practice maintains focus on those trying to break cycles of addiction, lifestyle habits and hangups.
• American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC)minorOthersJourney to Hope is a member of AACC, displaying the AACC logo on their website footer as part of their faith-based counseling identity.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Cerebral: Telehealth mental health platform emphasizing medication management plus therapy for anxiety, depression, and ADHD. Comparable as a digitally delivered mental health offering competing for the same regional insured patient population, though Cerebral's medication-led approach differs from Journey to Hope's pure talk-therapy focus.
• Calmerry: Subscription-based online therapy platform matching users with licensed therapists for individual counseling. Comparable as a lower-cost digital alternative to private practice for the Fredericksburg-area market, particularly for fee-for-service clients.
• Alma: Therapist network and SaaS platform supporting independent licensed clinicians with insurance credentialing, billing, and referrals. Comparable as an operational model for scaling solo practitioners — represents a potential partnership or competitive response to Journey to Hope's growth ambitions.
• Brightside Health: Telehealth mental health company offering therapy and psychiatry with a precision-medicine angle for anxiety and depression. Comparable as an insured-accepting telehealth alternative for Fredericksburg-area residents seeking therapy without an in-person visit.

Broad incumbents

• Headspace Health (Ginger): Combined mental health and meditation platform offering coaching, therapy, and psychiatry through employer benefits. Comparable as an end-to-end insured mental health offering that competes for the same Fredericksburg-area employer-covered populations.
• LifeStance Health: Largest publicly traded outpatient mental health practice platform in the US operating hybrid in-person + telehealth clinics across 30+ states with insurance contracts. Directly comparable as a multi-clinician licensed counseling practice delivering individual/family therapy and ancillary services, though at vastly greater scale and geographic breadth than Journey to Hope's single Fredericksburg location.
• BetterHelp: Largest consumer-direct online therapy platform owned by Teladoc, offering individual/couples/teen counseling via subscription. Directly comparable for Journey to Hope's telecounseling arm and individual therapy offering, though serving a much broader national market with a fully virtual, secular model.
• Lyra Health: Enterprise mental health benefits platform providing therapy, coaching, and medication management to employees of large employers. Comparable as a provider-network-and-therapy-delivery model serving insured populations — particularly relevant to the practice's recent Tricare East federal-military targeting strategy.
• Talkspace: Public online therapy and psychiatry platform offering individual, couples, and teen therapy via messaging and live sessions. Comparable service mix and insurance/employer contracting approach; serves as a benchmark for therapy-as-software economics versus the practice's location-dependent model.

Others

• Christian Counseling & Education Foundation (CCEF): Faith-based biblical counseling organization offering training, counseling, and resources from a Christian perspective. Most directly comparable as a faith-aligned mental health counseling and counselor-training organization, intersecting with Journey to Hope's Prepare-Enrich training arm and AACC membership positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/journeytohopecounseling
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/journey-to-hope-counseling

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Journey to Hope Counseling