Impact of Concussions on Athletes on Life After Sport

MODERATOR: Robert L. Parisien, M.D.

Orthopedic Sports Medicine Surgeon, Mount Sinai Health System

Dr. Robert L. Parisien, an Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Surgeon at Mount Sinai in New York City, specializes in Sports Medicine, Cartilage Repair/Restoration and Arthroscopic Surgery of the Shoulder, Elbow, Hip and Knee. Dr. Parisien also provides care for the elite athletes of Team USA as a Team Physician for US Ski & Snowboard and USA Fencing.

Dr. Parisien is triple Fellowship trained having completed sub-specialized training in Minimally Invasive Hip Surgery at Harvard Medical School, sub-specialized training in Sports Medicine & Cartilage Restoration at the University of Pennsylvania where he served as a Team Physician for the NCAA Division-I Penn Quakers and sub-specialized training in Sports Medicine & Shoulder Surgery at Boston University where he served as a Team Physician for the NCAA Division-I BU Terriers.

Dr. Parisien is an Ivy League alumnus having completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University where he was the recipient of the Frederick “Fritz” Pollard Award, Ernest T. Savignano Memorial Scholar-Athlete Award and won an Ivy-League championship as a member of the Brown Bears football team. Dr. Parisien later earned his Medical Doctorate from the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, MA.

Dr. Parisien has published over 100 scientific manuscripts, reviews and book chapters and his research has been presented at over 100 national and regional orthopaedic meetings.

Quentin 'Q' Williams

Q is also the Lead Facilitator of the Beyond Sports program through Athletes Soul. This program is designed to help athletes learn about themselves beyond sport.

Q was a two-sport athlete at Northwestern, where he holds a Master’s Degree in Sports Management and became a Gator Bowl Champion. After sport he overcame years of Post-Concussion Syndrome by leveraging his own World Class Method. He went from feeling confused and angry about concussion to feeling lit up, clear eyed, and committed to thriving and making a world class impact on other athletes.

Q has spoken on countless podcasts, facilitated international men’s groups, filled venues for live events across San Diego County. Today, he serves as an Official Provider for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Health and founder of World Class where he supports clients via 1:1 Coaching, Group Courses, and Speaking.

Kelly Conheeney  

Assistant Women's Soccer Coach at Manhattan College | Former Pro Soccer Player

Kelly Conheeney is a former pro soccer player who now works as an account manager at BallerTV. Conheeney's soccer story started with successful high school and club careers in New Jersey, which included being a member of the New Jersey Olympic Development Program.

Conheeney went on to complete a stellar, record-setting collegiate career at Virginia Tech where she played from 2009 to 2013. During her collegiate soccer career at Virginia Tech, she suffered a concussion and was sidelined for three years. Despite this, she concluded her collegiate career as one of the best in the school’s history as she set records for scoring the most career points (75), career game-winning goals (14), and tallying the most assists in a single season (12) while becoming the only player in school history to record 20 goals and 20 assists in a career. 

Along with playing collegiately, in 2010 Conheeney was invited to participate in the United States U-20 and U- 23 Women’s National Team camps. In 2012, after her junior year at Virginia Tech, Conheeney was a member of the Ottawa Fury of the USL W-League. She scored the fifth and final penalty kick in the North American Championship to help her team take home the trophy.

Conheeney continued her career professionally in the NWSL in 2016 as a member of Sky Blue FC. She appeared in 13 matches during the 2016 season while making five starts and scoring a goal. In 2017, Conheeney ended her NWSL season with the Houston Dash.

DJ WOODWARD

Caregiver & Mother, child experiencing PCS and POTS

DJ Woodard is a mother of four and from Louisville, Kentucky and a graduate in nursing from the University of Virginia.

DJ’s daughter Mae experienced five concussions and was recently diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome (PCS) and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). Mae was forced to retire from field hockey because of her injuries and is still in recovery. 

DJ is joining to share her experience as a caregiver for a child with concussion and to offer observations about what the experience of retiring from sports is like for Mae.

Kelly Conheeney  

Assistant Women's Soccer Coach at Manhattan College | Former Pro Soccer Player

  Ciara Dockery, Ph.D. is a New York State licensed clinical psychologist and the director of the NFL Life Line, a free and confidential 24/7 emotional wellness and suicide prevention hotline available to the entire National Football League community and administered by Vibrant Emotional Health. Dr. Dockery also oversees Vibrant’s partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the development and administration of their Mind Health training initiative aimed at culture change and stigma reduction around issues related to mental health within the NBA community. Throughout her career, Dr. Dockery’s main areas of focus have been in crisis intervention, suicide prevention, trauma-informed interventions, public outreach and large-scale mental health program development as well as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) interventions.

In her previous roles at the New York State Office of Mental Health, she served as the Statewide Coordinator on Project Liberty, the $132 million dollar FEMA-funded mental health outreach response to the events of 9/11. She also served as the first network development coordinator during the development and implementation of the SAMHSA-funded National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK). Dr. Dockery has also worked and trained in community mental health/inpatient/residential settings such as Kings County Hospital in central Brooklyn, The New York State Psychiatric Institute and Harvard’s McLean Hospital.

Dr. Dockery serves on the National Football League’s Mental Health Advisory Board, the Family Advisory board of the Harvard Football Player’s Health Study, the Concussion Legacy Foundation’s NYC Advisory Board and the advisory board for the CDC-funded Mount Sinai Injury Control Research Center (ICRC).

Dr. Dockery received her B.A. from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fordham University. She also holds a M.A. in Journalism from New York University.

Dr. Dockery is also part of the larger NFL family as her father, John Dockery, played 6 seasons in the league (1968-1973) both for the New York Jets (in Super Bowl III) and the Pittsburg Steelers.