We are glad that you want information about the Marriage and Family Enrichment Center of Western Avenue Baptist Church. We are a group of professional counselors committed to providing faith-based counseling to individuals, groups, family, and marriages. We seek to bring restoration and spiritual renewal through the provision of professional mental health services and assist individuals and families reach their full potential in their walk with Christ.

Because we believe that we are created by God as spiritual, physical, and psychological beings, we combine proven psychological theories with Biblical precepts to promote emotional health, spiritual growth, and healthy relationships.

For more information about our counseling ministry, please click here.

For additional counseling services, please click here.

Ellen Fox
W. Ellen Fox, LPC, LMFT serves as the Director of the Marriage and Family Enrichment Center. She graduated from Watts Hospital School of Nursing in 1975, and  from Winston-Salem State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1993. She continued her education at Wake Forest University and graduated with a Masters of Arts and Education in 1995, focusing in Community Mental Health and Family Studies. She received extensive graduate course work in Human Sexuality at the Psychological Studies Institute, Atlanta, GA, a regionally accredited graduate school in Christian Counseling.

Ellen is a Licensed Professional Counselor (NC #2475), a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (NC #805), and a Certified Sex Therapist (American Board of Christian Sex Therapist, #0123). She is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (#90343) and the American Association of Christian Counselors.
 
Ellen married Clark Stephen Fox in 1975, and they have two adult children, Mary Clare Fox and Warren Stephen Fox, both of Winston-Salem, NC.

Ellen  provides individual, family, marital, and group psychotherapy, and teaches marriage and family courses through Western Avenue Baptist Church’s Equipping University, and is on staff as the Director of the Marriage and Family Enrichment Center.

Kara Clouse

Kara joined our staff in July 2007 and is a Licensed Professional Counselor with the Marriage and Family Enrichment Center.  Her responsibilities include providing individual, marital and family psychotherapy. Kara is a native of Statesville, NC.  

Kara received her graduate degree from Gardner-Webb University in 2006 focusing on Mental Health Counseling, and continues to pursue studies in marriage and family therapy. 

Kara and her husband, Chris, were married in 1999 and have two children, Ashlyn (2003) and Arden (2007).

The Center
The Marriage and Family Enrichment Center provides comprehensive counseling services and educational programs to families, marriages, individuals, and groups  throughout the lifespan.  For information about our counseling services, click here. 

Programs and Events

The Marriage and Family Enrichment Center offers programs, groups, and resources that address the needs of families throughout every stage of life. These events provide not only information, but the opportunity to renew past friendships, strengthen current friendships or create new friends through an atmosphere of trust and openness. Whether you are a single adult, a young couple just beginning married life, parents of teenagers, widowed, an adult child caring for your aging parent, newly divorced, or enjoying retirement years, the Marriage and Family Enrichment Center can be a place where you find help, encouragement, and direction through the following programs and events:

• Equipping University classes: Semester-long courses including Creating a More Intimate Marriage, Boundaries in Marriage, How to Really Love Your Child, and Making you Children Mind without Losing Yours. These courses  offer a relaxed format that includes lecture, question and answers, role play, take home assignments, and open sharing by participants. Pre-registration is encouraged.

• Lifelines: During summer, relax and learn in this abbreviated format called “Life-lines”, where you will learn about healthy and normal develop-mental passages for families, such as “Caring for your Aging Parents”. Pre-registration encouraged.

• Hope-Keepers: Meeting on the first Tuesday of every month from 2:30 p.m. -4:00 p.m. in Room 153, this group offers learning, encouragement, support, and friendship for those struggling with a chronic illness. Relaxed format includes lecture, question and answers, Bible study, take home assign-ments, and open sharing by participants. Pre-registration is not required.