For nearly fifty years, Adrian and JoAnna Hickmon have given their lives to young people and their families, through the classroom, the football field, the challenge course, the counseling office and their own home.
Their story begins at Harding. JoAnna graduated from Harding Academy in 1972, where she was named Miss Harding Academy, and from Harding University in 1979 with a degree in elementary education. She was a Bison cheerleader while Adrian played football. He was a team co-captain his senior year on Harding's 1976 conference championship team, a unanimous All-Conference defensive end and an honorable mention All-American. In 1977, he signed with the Washington Redskins as a free agent outside linebacker, was placed on injured reserve and returned to Harding to coach as a graduate assistant and finish his master's degree in education. In 2022, he was inducted into the Harding University Athletic Hall of Fame.
JoAnna began her career teaching second grade in Cabot, Arkansas. The couple then moved to Monroe, Louisiana, where Adrian coached football at Ouachita Christian High School for 11 years. For the first six, he served as co-head coach with college teammate and lifelong friend Ronnie Huckeba, who later became the winningest head coach in Harding history. For the final five years, he served as sole head coach. He was twice named Louisiana Coach of the Year in football and twice in powerlifting, and in 2026 the school honored him and Huckeba at the football program's 50th anniversary celebration by naming its stadium Hickmon-Huckeba Stadium.
JoAnna taught kindergarten at Ouachita Christian School, developed the school's first pre-kindergarten program, and served as cheerleader sponsor. For most of their years in Monroe, she directed their church's children's Bible hour and vacation Bible school. In 1985, she and Adrian established the OCS Father-Son Camp, and it continues under the leadership of head coach Steven Fitzhue.
After the birth of their twin boys, Michael and Slade, JoAnna left the classroom to become a full-time homemaker, giving herself to her family and to the many people who found a welcome in their home. She has filled that role with grace, generosity and excellence.
In 1993, Adrian became one of the founding faculty members of Harding’s marriage and family therapy master's program, where he served as a full-time professor and supervisor until 2013, teaching courses in marriage, trauma, addiction, parent-child relationships and group processes. He orchestrated the development of the program's curriculum and then guided it to full accreditation in just two years, the fastest timeline allowed.
Capstone Adventures was established in 1994, offering weekend ropes course retreats for sports teams, coaching staffs, youth groups and churches. JoAnna completed Project Adventure's Advanced Safety Skills and Standards certification program, a premier technical training in the challenge course field covering belay techniques, safety standards, climbing and setting up elements and high-element rescue. She served as a challenge course practitioner for seven years, totaling 800 user days. That work became the forerunner of Capstone Treatment Center, which the Hickmons founded together in 2001 as a residential treatment program for young men ages 14-28 and their families. JoAnna served as its teacher for the first two years and was instrumental in getting the program off the ground. Adrian developed and directed the clinical program, served as executive director and CEO and now serves as its clinical architect.
Adrian developed the Core Systems Model, a clinical framework for understanding and treating the trauma, attachment wounds, emotional dysregulation and family disconnection that underlie disruptive behaviors and addiction in adolescents and young adults. In 2026, he published What Makes This Make Sense? Beyond Labels and Quick Fixes: Healing the Wounds Behind Disruptive Behavior. Grounded in a Christian worldview and built around the Core Systems Model, this book is for parents of struggling adolescents and young adults as well as clinicians, pastors, teachers and coaches. He holds a doctorate in marriage and family therapy from Virginia Tech University, a master’s degree in substance abuse counseling from Northeast Louisiana University, and master’s degree in education from Harding. He is licensed as a professional counselor, a marriage and family therapist, and an alcohol and drug abuse counselor, holds specialized credentials as a therapist and supervisor in sexual addiction, trauma, and multiple addictions, and has logged more than 25,000 hours of face-to-face therapy and clinical supervision. In 2025, he received the Leadership Award from the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals, presented by its founder, Dr. Patrick Carnes, and was named one of Arkansas's Most Influential Leaders by Arkansas Business Magazine.
Following in the footsteps of her father, Joe Webb, a world-renowned Tennessee Walking Horse trainer who produced 30 world champions and three world grand champions, JoAnna has been responsible since 2023 for the care and training of the four horses in Capstone's equine therapy program. She tends to them daily, trains them several days a week and has assisted Capstone therapists with equine therapy sessions. After God and family, working with the horses is her greatest passion.
Adrian and JoAnna have been married for 51 years and live in Searcy, Arkansas, their childhood hometown. They have four children and eight grandchildren.
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