William Parham

WILLIAM D. PARHAM, PH.D., ABPP is a Professor in the Counseling Program and Director of the School of Education Center for Trauma Informed Education at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He is past President of the LMU Faculty Senate, and former Associate Dean of Faculty in the SOE.

Dr. Parham has devoted his professional career to teaching, training, clinical, administrative, and organizational consultation venues. He is a licensed psychologist, Board Certified in Counseling Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) and Past-President of the Society of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association where he also is recognized as a Fellow in Divisions 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology), 45 (Society for the Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race) and 47 (Exercise and Sport Psychology).

In addition, Dr. Parham serves currently as the inaugural Director of the Mental Health and Wellness Program of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). He is a member of the California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Mental Wellbeing and a member of the California Science Foundation Science of Sport Advisory Committee. He is a past member of the Mental Health and Wellness Task Force of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).

For most of his professional career, Dr. Parham has focused on working with athletes across organizations (e.g., National Basketball Association; National Football League; Major League Baseball; United States Olympic Committee; United States Tennis Association; Major League Soccer, UCLA, UC Irvine) across levels (e.g., professional, elite, amateur, collegiate and youth) and across sports (e.g., basketball, football, gymnastics, softball, baseball, track and field, tennis, golf, swimming, volleyball, figure skating). He also has worked with performance artists in drama, theatre and music. Much of his current work focuses on trauma, an unfortunate personal experience of far too many athletes, artists and everyday citizens.

Dr. Parham’s emphasis on personal empowerment, discovering and cultivating innate talents and looking for hidden opportunities in every situation are trademark foci. He is widely known through his scholarship and conversations with domestic and international audiences for his work on the interplay between sport psychology, diversity, intersectionality, trauma, and health psychology.