Dr. Franklin was born at Wurtsmith AFB, MI and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas State University, a Master of Science degree from The University of Texas at Arlington, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from The University of Texas at Austin.

David is a highly accomplished counselor with many years of especially diverse professional and clinical experiences. He spent several years in the USAF working as an Active Duty clinician. In the AF, he excelled in a variety of practice settings. Specifically, he served as a clinical provider and treatment team leader on an inpatient psychiatric unit and gained valuable clinical and managerial experience working as a clinical provider on the Air Force’s largest inpatient Alcohol Rehabilitation Center (ARC) and was the base-wide Director of a Family Advocacy Program (a military program designed to treat and stop child and spousal neglect and abuse—including sexual abuse).

Dr. Franklin holds numerous, prestigious credentials, such as the Diplomate (or Board) Certification, which is a special recognition bestowed upon individuals who are qualified to practice within a specialty by virtue of advanced training and experience in the specialty area itself, and, who have also passed an intensive examination given by a national board of senior specialists who serve as examiners. He is Board Certified in three specialities: 1) Traumatic Stress, 2) Clinical Social Work, and 3) Domestic Violence. In addition, he is a Certified Critical Incident Stress Debriefer (CISD).

David's dissertation research was innovative across all counseling professions. He developed a way to measure a counselor's ethical competence. Because of his groundbreaking work, he is a nationally recognized expert in the area of ethics and ethical competence.

Dr. Franklin and his family reside in San Antonio. His interests outside of his clinical work include activities with his daughter, Amanda, exercising, shooting International Skeet, keeping up with the United States Men's National Soccer Team (USMNT), and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting. Some of his favorite MMA fighters are: Travis Lutter, Evan Tanner (deceased), Clay Guida, Joe Stevenson, Rich Franklin, Georges St. Pierre, and Lyoto Machida.