Joy Clifton is the Executive Director at Wheatfield Academy. For over a decade, Joy has worked with adolescents and children in the mental health field. Through private practice, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and Orange County Public Schools (Orlando, FL.), Joy has provided counseling services for mental health, behavioral, and substance abuse needs to various populations. 

Joy has a passion for working with all individuals but particularly with children and adolescents. Children and adolescents are in unique seasons of their lives as they grow and mature into adults. Often times when trauma, struggles, or transitions occur, they are left grappling with what skills or emotional control they have. Young people can often be maladjusted, and their pain, anger, or anxiety can be manifested into irritability, misbehavior, self-harm, and resistance. Joy considers it an honor to be part of helping them sort out and heal those painful areas of their lives. Through trauma-informed care and cognitive behavior therapy as well as a deep understanding of teenage culture, she strives to be effective in not just putting a “band-aid” over their problems or behaviors but truly helping them to be a healthier and more vibrant individual even at their age. Her desire is to assist young people in becoming the person that God has called them to be and helping them, as Christ promises in John 10:10, to live “more abundantly.” 

Joy is also an Ordained Minister in the Church of God and has served in her local church as a staff pastor and alongside her husband Nolan in outreach/missions, children, and student ministry. Joy is grateful to be a part of the Wheatfield team and is honored to serve the needs of the Wheatfield students and families. She and Nolan are from Florida and have two daughters, Hope and Anna. In her free time, she enjoys embracing the local community, baking in the kitchen, and going on adventures in the great outdoors.