My name is Yates Boykin. I am the founder of Sherwood Educational Counseling.

With a Master’s in Education and several years of teaching experience, I know firsthand the difficulties school brings. I still remember one day as a teacher when I lost my temper with my students. The guilt followed me home, long after the grading, lesson planning, family time, and emails were finished. I thought to myself: I can’t keep doing this on my own. I needed help.

Now, as a counselor, I sit with educators every week who feel that same weight. They speak honestly about exhaustion, anxiety, strained relationships, discouragement, and the quiet fear that the work is costing them more than it should. And I hear the same refrain again and again: I can’t keep carrying this by myself.

Educators need more than quick fixes or generic advice. They need thoughtful, personal support that understands both the emotional demands of teaching and the deeper questions of calling, faith, and formation that shape their work.

My work is shaped by a desire to see educators planted with God. I long to see educators whose work overflows from their relationship with God, whose hearts trust the Good Shepherd as he walks with them through the “shadow of the valley” of difficult classrooms, stacks of grading, dried-up resources, and long days. Like a healthy, rooted oak, the planted-with-God educator offers life, shelter, and nourishment to their forest of students, families, and co-workers. With God, they are free to work with love, faith, and hope.

I live in Citrus County with my family. I serve both local and remote clients through Foundation Counseling Center. I am actively connected to local schools.