About Us

Bridgehaven Introduction


Our Mission

Bridgehaven Counseling Associates exists to provide excellent, Christ-centered counseling to individuals, couples, and families in the Raleigh-Durham area.

Our History

Bridgehaven began out of the conviction that there needs to be a gospel-centered counseling center that is designed and equipped to work with local churches in the care of people. One of the greatest weaknesses of the counseling field is its inability to provide an adequate breadth of care, beyond formal one-on-one meetings. One of the greatest strengths of the local church is its community life (Gal 6:1-2).

Bridgehaven exists to bring the strengths of counseling—trained, experienced people devoted to studying the complex problems of life—together with the strengths of the church—caring, involved people willing to “do life together” in light of the grace available in the gospel and the truth of Scripture.

Bridgehaven is a 501(c)3 parachurch organization that has chosen to operate as pastoral counselors in order to allow greater freedom for working with local churches. We appreciate and respect the work of the state licensed counselor, but our desire to cooperate with local churches led us to choose the ecclesiastical side of the separation of church and state.

Bridgehaven was launched by The Summit Church (Summit Church) in September 2012 to care for the growing counseling need in their congregation, provide Christian professionals (i.e., medical doctors, attorneys, teachers, etc…) and lay people with a referral source that could serve as an extension of their Christian witness, and allow area churches to participate in the counseling resources being developed.

Bridgehaven wants to be a blessing to people, churches, and professionals of RDU by providing a resource for the struggles, crises, and transitions of life. We provide preventative seminars (before), counseling for troubled times (during), and resources to equip churches to care for one another in the midst of the common challenges of life (after).

Our Board of Directors

Tony Higgins, M.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Executive Director, Bridgehaven Counseling Associates


Brad HambrickBrad Hambrick, Th.M.

Pastor of Counseling, The Summit Church (www.summitrdu.com)
Adjunct Professor of Biblical Counseling, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (www.sebts.edu)
Council Member of The Biblical Counseling Coalition (http://biblicalcounselingcoalition.org)


Darin Meece

Attorney at Law at Brock & Meece, P.A.


Todd Ervin

Executive Director or Ministry Support at The Summit Church


Our Advisory Board

Ralph Thompson

Ralph is the CEO and President of Holocene, LLC, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a graduate of NC State University in Civil Engineering. He brings tremendous experience in business, and has a great love for people as he has served as a member of the Summit Church, is on the Board of Directors of Centro Internationale de Raleigh, and also serves on the advisory board of Triangle Family Services. He and his wife Sue Ellen have two grown children. Jessica, married to Mike, and a son, Daniel.

James White

James serves bi-vocationally as Vice-President of Leadership Development for the YMCA of the Triangle Area and as Senior Pastor for Christ Our King Community Church. He brings a wealth of experience as a consultant and a sought after speaker in the corporate arena as well as with outreaches to the NFL. He and his wife Cynthia have been married since 1987 and have three children, Christa 21, Alexis 19, and Justin 17.

Sam Williams, Ph.D.

Sam is Professor of Counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and elder at North Wake Church in Wake Forest. North Carolina. Dr. Williams came to Wake Forest from a private practice in Lake Charles, Louisiana and serves Bridgehaven as an invaluable resource of experience in his field. He is married to Mindy and they have children, Sarah, Matt, Andrew and Stephen.