Robert Edelman, M.Ed., Ed.S., LMHC

Robert is the Founder, President, and CEO of Village Counseling Center, where he has led the organization since 2001 in providing specialized, trauma-informed mental health services to children, adolescents, adults, and families throughout North Florida. With more than 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field, Robert has developed extensive expertise in childhood trauma, sexual abuse, children and adolescents with sexual behavior problems, family therapy, forensic assessment, and clinical supervision. Throughout his career, he has provided or overseen evaluation and treatment services for several thousand children and adolescents, managed millions of dollars in grant funding, and presented nationally and statewide on childhood trauma, child-on-child sexual abuse, and treatment issues involving youth with sexual behavior concerns.

Robert has also played an active role in shaping child welfare and behavioral health initiatives across Florida, including serving on the Florida Department of Children and Families’ Child-on-Child Sexual Abuse and Children with Sexual Behavior Problems Strategic Planning Committee, the Gabriel Myers Florida Work Group, and the Adoption Review Committee for DCF Circuits 3 and 8. He was also appointed by the Alachua County Commission to the Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center Advisory Council and founded the North Florida Child-on-Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Task Force. In addition to his clinical and leadership work, Robert is the author of two children’s books, Trauma: Teaching Kids All About Trauma and My Private Parts Are Private: A Guide to Teaching Children About Safe Touching, created to help children, caregivers, and professionals address difficult topics in an accessible and supportive way. His leadership reflects a longstanding commitment to compassionate, evidence-informed care, community collaboration, and improving systems of support for children and families.