About Heartlight Ministries
Heartlight was founded in 1989 as a non-profit Christian residential counseling opportunity dedicated to helping adolescents and their families work through difficult situations. It is a 9-12 month program that helps the teens and family work through 5 Levels, bringing about a turnaround in the thinking and actions of the teenager and creating a closer bond and relationship with parents and family.
Heartlight strives to provide the very best care to families caught in crisis situations that require an adolescent’s removal from the home. Heartlight is a co-ed, year-round program for 48 residents, supervised by over 40 staff on a beautiful 100-acre campus in Eastern Texas.
Heartlight is committed to the belief that an atmosphere of relationships creates an arena for change.
Heartlight is Designed to Help Troubled Teens
When a teenager displays rebellious behavior and becomes unmanageable, parents look frantically for solutions. If your child exhibits some of the signs of needing counseling and temporary removal from the home, then by all means consider a program like Heartlight. As a rule, unless a boarding school indicates that their program is specifically for teens who are experiencing difficulties in their adolescent years, then the school may not be suited for troubled teens. In fact, such kids tend to quickly get kicked out of regular boarding schools or they receive harsh treatment for misbehavior. Heartlight is specifically designed to work with troubled teens. And among only a handful of Christian-focused programs, Heartlight is one of the most effective and least costly choices (see the Cost Comparison).
Heartlight is not designed to be a long-term program. Our program usually lasts 9-12 months, and that depends on how quickly the troubled teen comes to the realization that they need to go all the way through the levels of the program before their parents will bring them home again.
Heartlight’s professional counseling staff work with each student in individual and group counseling sessions each week and house staff work with them 24/7. Counselors also update the parents on the student’s progress by phone once a week. Parents are constantly kept in the loop by various staff responsible for the resident’s care.
The Heartlight formula is loving and relational, not forced or focused on breaking the child’s spirit. It is designed to bring light to the child’s heart and reveal and deal with their struggles, not to crush their heart like some of harsher programs can do. As the program has been perfected over time, the average stay at Heartlight (time required to make a real change in our teen residents) has dropped from 18 months to as little as 9 months.
We welcome you to request more information, including the Spirit of Heartlight DVD, which introduces you to the program in the words of parents of previous Heartlight residents. They are our best endorsers. Many of our alumni parents say that Heartlight literally saved their child from sure self-destruction, or at the very least saved their family from pulling apart at the seams.
Is Your Troubled Teen Right for Heartlight?
To the Parents of Troubled Teens…
We’ve had more than 1500 troubled teens come live with us at Heartlight through the years, all of whom have struggled immensely. We’ve shed many tears with their parents, who, at the time, didn’t see the path to make it through the struggle.
We’ve had thousands of counseling sessions, phone conversations, and discussions at our seminars with moms and dads who were worn out. They were so tired of being called every name in the book, challenged on every thought they’ve ever had, and absolutely depleted because of all the hardship caused by their teen. Many had lost hope and didn’t think they were going to make it.
They did make it, and so can you. Your investment in a program like Heartlight will one day pay off. And the payoff will be great. Heartlight offers a way to break the tension for your family, to provide 24/7 mentoring, counsel and guidance for your child. You’ll get a needed break. And your child will get a break from bad influences in his or her life.
Please give us a call today. We’d love to hear your story and see if Heartlight will be the right fit for your child.
Mark and Jan Gregston, Executive Directors
Administrative Information
Heartlight Ministries Board of Directors
- Steve & Ellen Childress • Carrollton, TX
- Joe & Jana Crawford • Abilene, TX
- Mark & Jan Gregston • Hallsville, TX
- Mike & Dianne Puls • Arlington, TX
Heartlight Foundation Board Members
- Jim & Lynn Samis • Ft. Worth, TX
- Bill & Susanne Walsh • Richardson, TX
- Mark & Jan Gregston • Hallsville, TX
- Joey & Michelle Hutto • Tupelo, MS
Heartlight is proud to be affiliated with the following organizations:
- American Association of Christian Counselors
- America World Adoption
- Dealing With Struggling Teens
- Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
- Mission Music, Inc.
- Shaohannah’s Hope
- Visiting Orphans
