David Affolter (LMHC)

Hello! I’m David Affolter, I have been helping people most of my adult life. It just seems that has been a major motivation for me. After college and service in the Air Force, I really was confronted with the reality that I needed to choose a direction in life. I made a decision that it had to be something that would bring me lasting satisfaction. I would feel good about myself. I became a high school teacher and coach, and I loved doing that for almost twenty years. I experienced the joy of seeing young people do things they thought they couldn’t ever do. In my teaching, I always seemed to be drawn to the students who seemed like they were struggling to find their way. Students came to me for someone to listen to them and help them find their way. I have the joy today of keeping in touch via social media, and I watching as they grow their own families and follow their own path. After those teaching years and my own daughters moved on to college and adult life, I felt the urge to keep helping people, but I felt moved to go into counseling. With the support of my wife, I completed a graduate/professional degree in Community Counseling at The University of Akron in 1994 and became a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in Ohio and am also a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Florida. It really was a smooth transition, and I have learned that a significant part of counseling is giving people new information and perspectives and helping them decide where they want to go and how to get there. I have continued now for over twenty years in helping people deal with a variety of problems in their lives, and the large majority are able to feel good about themselves and able to move in the direction they choose. I have learned how life has wounded people and how to help them heal from those wounds. I have seen people who thought their lives were over but have learned in therapy how to build new ways of being and living that lead them to new destinations—destinations that many never thought they would arrive at in the beginning. I know when I reflect on my own journey over the past fifty years or so, I am amazed at the variety of things life has brought my way, and the lessons I have learned along the way. It is a very humbling experience watching people gain the courage to change and move forward in ways they never believed they could. If this kind of experience is something that you believe would be helpful to you, then you are in the right place. I can join you on your journey and help you find your way to your new destination—a new way of looking at yourself, a new career path, finding new friends, or finding a new spirituality to give new meaning and purpose to your life. I look forward to assisting you on your journey to your new destination!