--- title: "Parenting and Counseling Guides | Shepherd's Heart, NC" url: https://shepherds-he.art/guides description: "Plain-language guides for North Carolina parents: signs your child may need counseling, teen therapy, screens, and the approaches behind the work." lang: en --- Skip to main content Guides # Guides for parents and families. These guides answer the questions parents tend to carry around for weeks before they call anyone. Is this normal, or is it something more? Will therapy help if my teen won't go? What does my child's therapist actually tell me? What's the difference between coaching and counseling? Each guide is written to be useful on its own, whether or not you ever book a session. Some guides are practical: how to tell when a child needs help, what to do when a teen refuses therapy, how to set house rules around screens. Others explain the approaches behind the work at Shepherd's Heart, like cognitive behavioral therapy, family systems thinking, attachment, and behavioral parent training, so you know what you would be walking into. The guides come from the practice of John C. Murphy, MA, LCMHC (https://shepherds-he.art/about), a licensed clinical mental health counselor in North Carolina. They are general education, not therapy and not a diagnosis. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911. For parents ## Practical guides for hard moments at home. ### Signs Your Child May Need Counseling For parents trying to tell the difference between a rough stretch and something that needs professional help. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/signs-your-child-needs-counseling ### When Your Teen Refuses Therapy For parents whose teen clearly needs support and has flatly refused to go, and who want to know what to do instead of dragging them in. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/when-your-teen-refuses-therapy ### Teen Therapy and Confidentiality For parents who want to know what they'll hear, and what they won't, when their teen starts therapy. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/teen-therapy-confidentiality ### Parent Coaching or Counseling? For parents who know they want help but aren't sure whether they need strategies for home, therapy for themselves, or both. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/parent-coaching-or-counseling ### Is My Child Manipulating Me? For parents who feel played: the child who always gets their way, works one parent against the other, or knows exactly which buttons to push. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/is-my-child-manipulating-me ### Screens, Gaming, and House Rules For parents tired of fighting about phones, tablets, and video games, who want rules that hold without a nightly war. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/screens-and-gaming How we work ## The approaches behind the work. ### Behavioral Parent Training For parents who want to understand the practical, structure-first approach behind much of the parent coaching at Shepherd's Heart. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/behavioral-parent-training ### How CBT Works for Teens and Adults For anyone curious about cognitive behavioral therapy and how it's used here with teens, with adults, and after trauma. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/how-cbt-works ### A Family Systems Approach For parents curious why the work here so often starts with the adults, and what family systems thinking has to do with it. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/family-systems-approach ### Attachment-Informed Parenting For parents who want to understand how connection, repair, and steady presence fit alongside rules and structure. Learn more → https://shepherds-he.art/guides/attachment-informed-parenting Where to go next ## Using these guides. Read the guide that matches the question in front of you, then follow its links to the services and specialties it mentions. If a guide describes your household a little too well, that's a good reason to talk it through with someone. No guide can account for the details of your family, which is what the free 15-minute consultation and the intake session are for. If you'd rather start from the problem you're living with, the specialties (https://shepherds-he.art/specialties) page is organized that way, and who we help (https://shepherds-he.art/who-we-help) is organized by who you are. To see what happens after you reach out, read what to expect (https://shepherds-he.art/what-to-expect) or the FAQ (https://shepherds-he.art/faq). Next step ## Ready to try something that works? A free 15-minute consultation. Send a request and John will get back to you with times that actually work — no pressure, no forms up front. 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