David was born and raised in Miami Florida. He graduated from Florida State University in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a double minor in history and religion. He began working at Miami Children's Hospital on the child and adolescent psychiatric unit. He then moved to Georgia and worked on Cobb Hospital's child and adolescent psychiatric unit.
After working in the hospital setting, he became a special education teacher for Cherokee County. He spent two years as the special education teacher for the self-contained, emotionally/behaviorally disordered fourth, fifth and sixth grade. In 2002 he completed his master's degree in counseling psychology and obtained his Georgia State license. He then began working for Paulding County's community mental health department. While at the community mental health center, he was the child and adolescent therapist and supervisor for child and adolescent services. During his time at the mental health center he worked not only with children and adolescents, but also provided therapeutic services to all ages including assessments, crisis interventions and substance abuse treatment.
After leaving the community mental health center, David spent a year as the lead therapist for an intensive in-home therapy team with Family Intervention Specialists. Since 2002, David has been a therapist at Sheltered Cove Counseling Center. In 2013, David and his partner, Stephanie opened Journeys Counseling Center, LLC in Villa Rica, Georgia.
Stephanie Simmons Cole, grew up in Georgia however; after High School she decided to expand her horizons by moving to Texas on a full scholarship. There she obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Stephanie knew at the age of 15 that she would study psychology and her ultimate goal was to build a safe and healthy place for individuals, to not only understand their mental illness, but learn how to cope with those various illnesses or support family and friends who they would see struggling daily. She knew in her heart she would always move back to Dallas, after returning home for a short while, little did she know, it would be Dallas, Georgia. There in Dallas, Georgia, Stephanie planted her roots and began to expand on her life long dream. She received her Master’s degree in counseling psychology and is licensed by the State of Georgia as a licensed professional counselor (LPC).
Stephanie has been serving the West Georgia community for 20+ years in various roles, mostly with children and adolescents. She began in the Polk County Community Mental Health Center as the child and adolescent therapist and supervisor of the child and adolescent services. Beginning in 2007 up until 2013 she served as a therapist, for Dr. Jack Miller, at Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics. In 2013, Stephanie and her business partner, David Russell LPC, decided to open Journeys Counseling Center, LLC where they provide individual, family, and group therapy to all ages for a varied list of diagnoses and life struggles.