Jeff Lapham earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Special Education from Florida State University in 1989, with an emphasis in behavioral disorders. He taught children with severe emotional handicaps in the Florida public schools for 15-years before he attended Florida Gulf Coast University where he obtained a second master’s degree in mental health counseling in 2011.

He has worked with youth with behavioral issues while they were incarcerated, adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses, and adults involved with the legal system. Mr. Lapham received special training and certification in trauma focused – cognitive behavioral therapy in 2017 and has been working with youth that have experienced traumatic events since then. 

Mr. Lapham also has the honor of having his name placed on the wall of tolerance at the civil rights memorial center in Montgomery, Alabama among other civil rights’ activists such as dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., etc.