Speaking Engagements
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Dr. Bradley Hack
Dr. Hack is regarded as one of the nation’s leading sport psychologists, working with athletes at all levels of sport. He created the Sport Psychology Service in the Department of Sports Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill serving as its Director (2001-2016) and Senior Sport Psychologist (2016-2023), where he worked with individual athletes and teams, including the 2017 Men’s Basketball National Championship Team, the 2022 National Finals Team, and the 2016 Men’s Lacrosse National Championship Team. He is also the Sport Psychologist for the Carolina Hurricanes, working with the players, coaches, and staff providing mental training, individual counseling, and player analysis for the Draft. Dr. Hack also works for the Tampa Bay Rays of the MLB, serving as the Sport Psychologist for their triple-A affiliate, Durham Bulls, and as a member of the Rays Mental Health and Performance Team during Spring Training and the Winter Instructional League.
Dr. Hack founded his private practice, Carolina Strategies, where he has worked with individual professional athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA, NASCAR, WNBA, US Women’s National Soccer Team, Pro Ironman Circuit, as well as members of the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2021, and 2024 U.S. Olympic teams. Dr. Hack works with junior athletes in his private practice, as well, many of whom have gone on to collegiate and professional careers in sport. He provides sport psychology training workshops for all of the NCFC Boys Soccer Academy teams, the Junior Hurricanes Hockey program, and the Pro5 Baseball Academy. In addition to his role with junior teams, he has worked with over a thousand individual teenage athletes and their families to help improve their psychological health, performance, and mental fitness. At the pro level, he has consulted with the NBA league office regarding the creation of a new mental health program for players and has served as a treating clinician for the NFL’s Substance Abuse Program.
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Dr. Hack has taken a leadership role in promoting the field of psychology at both state and national levels. He recently finished his 3-year term as the President of the American Psychological Association’s (APA’s) Society for Sport Psychology. In this role, Dr. Hack served as the voice of sport psychologists nationwide as they work towards educating both psychologists and the general public about the benefits of mental training for sport. Dr. Hack has also been instrumental in establishing sport psychology as a Specialty within the APA. His role as President built upon what he started more than a decade ago as one of four sport psychologists selected to co-author the national guidelines for the practice of sport psychology.
Dr. Hack has also served as the Treasurer for APA’s Society for Sport Psychology’s Executive Committee, and as the Chairperson of the Division’s Education Committee. He served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology and his work has been published in The Sport Psych Handbook (2005). He was one of the founding creators of the Big Sky National Collegiate Sport Psychology Conference to help train and educate fellow sport psychologists at DI institutions around the country. Closer to home, Dr. Hack has been elected twice to the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Psychological Association and was appointed as its Federal Advocacy Coordinator.
Dr. Hack received his B.A. with High Honors from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D., Summa Cum Laude from Michigan State University. He started his career as a staff psychologist at the Counseling Center at UNC, Chapel Hill and as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the UNC School of Medicine before entering private practice. He has been treating adolescents, adults and athletes in his practice for more than 27 years. Prior to becoming a psychologist, for seven years Dr. Hack was the Head Teaching Pro for junior teams and high school players at a number of private tennis clubs in metro Detroit. In college, he was a member of the University of Michigan Ski Team. Despite his vast sports knowledge, he has yet to defeat his son in fantasy football or his daughter in fantasy basketball. Outside the office, he loves staying in shape with Crossfit, boxing, and motocross, and is still trying to competently surf the fast-breaking waves on our coast.
Dr. Jaxson Judkins
Dr. Jaxson Judkins is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor-Associate (LCMHC-A), a National Certified Counselor (NCC), and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC). He received his B.S. in Psychology from Brigham Young University and his master’s in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Minnesota State University, Mankato. He earned both his Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and his Ph.D. in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology at West Virginia University.
For the past 2 years, Dr. Judkins has provided psychological counseling and performance enhancement to students and athletes at the WVU Counseling Center. He also provided group therapy for students struggling with alcohol and other drug concerns, helping them change their negative coping behaviors while teaching them healthy alternative strategies to manage stress, anxiety, and depression. He uses multiple therapeutic approaches in his work, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Motivational Interviewing.
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Dr. Judkins has also served as the mental performance consultant for the Division III Waynesburg University Football team, where he conducted peak performance workshops and one-on-one mental skills training for both the players and the coaches. He also trained aspiring lawyers and nurses in performance enhancement techniques at the WVU Law School and the School of Nursing. His academic research has examined the psychological concept of “grit” in professional sports, and strategies for strengthening relationships between Division I head coach and sport psychology consultants.
Prior to becoming a clinical mental health counselor, Jaxson spent several years as a basketball instructor and camp commissioner at Brigham Young University (BYU). He served with the BYU men’s and women’s basketball teams as a practice player for four seasons, during which time the women’s basketball team won 2 West Coast Conference tournament titles and had 3 NCAA tournament appearances, reaching the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
Outside of the office, Jaxson enjoys water skiing, horseback riding and taste-testing for his wife’s word- of-mouth baking gig. He is excited to explore all that North Carolina has to offer with his wife and two sons.
Dr. JP Ferraro
Dr. JP Ferraro received his masters and doctorate in clinical psychology from Eastern Kentucky University. He comes to the Triangle from the Washington State University Counseling Center, where he worked with students and athletes on clinical issues and mental skills training. Dr. Ferraro has worked in a variety of clinical settings including private practice, substance abuse treatment programs, and university psychology clinics. He specializes in practical strategies for mood management, changing negative behavior patterns, and self-regulation strategies for athletes and high performers. He also has expertise in social skills training for adolescents with ADHD and Autism-Spectrum issues, and utilizes Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Interpersonal Therapy in his work with teens and adults.
Dr. Ferraro’s passion for sport psychology began while competing in the 400 meter and 4 X 400 meter relay as a scholarship athlete on EKU’s Track & Field team. While at EKU, he worked with the athletic department to create a mental health support group for athletes and his graduate research focused on the effectiveness of mindfulness training and mood regulation strategies for student-athletes.
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While at Washington State, he worked with students and athletes on managing performance anxiety, low motivation, and team dynamic concerns, and conducted mental health screenings for the incoming first-year athletes.
Dr. Ferraro has received both clinical and athletic awards, including the undergraduate Founder’s Scholarship, the Outstanding Psychology Senior Award, the Ohio Valley Conference Track & Field Academic Medal of Honor, and was part of the EKU Track & Field Conference Championship Teams in 2018 and 2019. Outside the office, he enjoys playing music, exploring the outdoors while hiking and mountain biking, building local communities, and really anything that makes him excited and grateful to be alive.
Dr. Daniel Mollenthiel
Dr. Daniel Mollenthiel received his B.S. in Psychology from Florida International University and his Master’s and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Mollenthiel completed his Pre-Doctoral Internship at Compass Health Network & Royal Oaks Hospital in Missouri, where he received specialized training in adolescent therapy for a wide range of clinical issues including depression, anxiety, trauma and substance use. While there, he developed and implemented a group therapy program for teenagers struggling with generalized anxiety that focused on teaching cognitive-behavioral strategies to manage their emotions. In addition, while in graduate school, Dr. Mollenthiel helped create a trauma workshop involving survivors of the Margery Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting in Florida.
Dr. Mollenthiel also specializes in sport and performance psychology, working with adolescent and adult athletes on developing their mental skills to produce a state of Flow. In addition, to help keep high school and collegiate athletes mentally sharp during the pandemic, Dr. Mollenthiel created an online performance enhancement workshop series focused on creating a peak performance mindset.
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He has also worked with distance runners in their pre-race mental preparation as part of the Psyching Team for the Miami Marathon, and has presented his research on confidence in sport at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association.
In his free time, Dr. Mollenthiel continues to play basketball, harkening back to his days as a point guard on his high school and travel teams. He stays active in the outdoors, running, hiking, canoeing and jet skiing. He loves experimenting in the kitchen with new recipes and thinks he may have actually watched every action movie ever made.
Dr. Brendan Carr
Dr. Brendan Carr earned his undergraduate degree in Psychology and Exercise & Sport Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed a master’s degree in Sport & Exercise Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is also a proud “Double ‘Dawg” earning both a master’s degree in Professional Community Counseling and doctorate in Counseling Psychology from The University of Georgia.
He serves as a Sport Psychologist within the UNC Department of Sports Medicine, providing both performance enhancement and mental health services to UNC student-athletes. He also works with professional athletes in Track & Field, NFL, MLB, MLS, NWSL, and several Junior Olympic and National Teams. Prior to coming back to UNC, Brendan spent three years at Penn State University as a Staff Psychologist and the primary mental health provider to Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics.
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Brendan is a licensed psychologist, a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is a member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Sport Psychology Registry, external consultant for the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) and member of the advisory board for the Collegiate Clinical/Counseling Sport Psychology Association (CCSPA). Outside of work, Brendan enjoys hiking adventures with his two Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, working out, and supporting Carolina athletics.
