Special Edition: Internship, National Concussion Awareness Day Lunch & Learn, Great Press (8/28/25 Newsletter)
This week, we have a special edition newsletter. We're sharing some highlights from our summer 2025 internship, including a new kind of resource: flyers!
We also have lots of fall Opportunities, our Lunch & Learn for National Concussion Awareness Day, and fantastic press for Concussion Alliance in HuffPost!
Do you find the Concussion Update helpful? If so, forward this to a friend and suggest they subscribe.
Editors: Conor Gormally & Malayka Gormally
Do you find the Concussion Update helpful? If so, forward this to a friend and suggest they subscribe.
“I’m very proud of what I’ve done. I’ve grown a lot as a person, building up my skill set. I really enjoyed my time.”
Opportunities
Tuesday, September 9, 2 pm ET: A free webinar, Is Concussion A Brain Injury?, hosted by Concussion Awareness Now. Presenters include advocate Sarah Goody (also affiliated with Concussion Alliance), Kelly Sarmiento (Brain Injury Association of America), and Lindsay Simpson (Champion Comeback Foundation). Register to attend or receive a recording.
Wednesday, September 17, 6 pm ET: A free, virtual workshop, From Disruption to Direction: Rebuilding a Career After Brain Injury, led by Kathleen Ochab, ICF certified leadership development and career transition coach, and hosted by Love Your Brain. Register in advance; there is a sliding scale fee, including a free tier.
Thursday, September 18, 1 pm PT: A free virtual meeting, Lunch & Learn: Q&A with Concussion Alliance Co-founders Conor Gormally and Malayka Gormally. See below for more information.
Registration is now open: A free, interactive Zoom program called Mindset, presented by Love Your Brain, will begin in October. The program includes mindfulness, education, community building, and yoga (in some groups), and includes a new affinity group, “Life After Concussion,” which is “For people navigating the lasting impacts of concussion/post-concussion symptoms.” There are two versions of the group. Register here for “Group Discussion” starting October 8 at 5 pm ET. Register here for “Yoga and Group Discussion” starting October 16 at 7 pm ET. Learn more about the Mindset programs here.
Registration is open: UHN and Project ECHO present a concussion educational program for healthcare providers. The program is free and starts on September 10, meeting weekly via video conference on Wednesdays from 4:30 to 5:45 pm ET. The program covers “topics related to persisting concussion symptoms, in children and adults, as well as diagnosis of acute and chronic concussion,” and “is designed to provide participants with a comprehensive approach to concussion diagnosis and symptom management across the continuum.” The program welcomes participants from across the globe. International participants are not typically asked to present patient cases, but can present cases if they inquire ahead of time. Register in advance. For Canadian providers, up to 40 Mainpro+ credits are available. Learn more and register in advance.
Watch the webinar recording: Love Your Brain’s Getting Things to Stick: Habit Formation After Brain Injury. The slides for the webinar are here.
“I think that the ripple effect [of educating people about concussions] is really a big thing, and if I can go back to Carleton and help inform my peers about what to do…that means a lot to me.”
National Concussion Awareness Day Lunch & Learn: 9/18
Racial bias may affect concussion care, risk, for Black athletes
Friday, September 19th, is National Concussion Awareness Day! Join us the day before (Thursday, September 18th) for another Open Q&A with Concussion Alliance Co-Founders Conor Gormally and Malayka Gormally.
The Lunch & Learn webinar will begin with an overview of our recent updates to our 'Persisting Symptoms After Concussion' resource and its associated flyer (thanks to our summer interns!), and then progress to an open Q&A. Bring your questions and let's build awareness, education, and community together!
Note: We are unable to answer any personal questions about an individual’s specific medical issues, and these answers do not constitute medical advice.
We want this Lunch & Learn to be an opportunity to be in community together, so the meeting is a regular Zoom meeting and not a Zoom Webinar.
Below are the meeting details; respond to this email if you want us to send you a reminder email with the link.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8428523914?pwd=dXA0TkRocTE2RjJHUzJGNGx6UEJzdz09&omn=87398851129
Meeting ID: 842 852 3914
Passcode: 094687
“I’ve always had a little trouble communicating; I have a lot of thoughts that I want to get out. Whether that’s for writing a scientific article or expressing my ideas, this internship has allowed me to consolidate my thoughts a bit more, understand the points that I want to get across, and tailor it to a specific audience. It’s also made me more comfortable talking to a professional and asking questions.”
Our Summer 2025 Interns
This summer, we welcomed six undergraduate students for 8 weeks of in-depth concussion education and professional development as part of our sixth Summer Concussion Education & Advocacy Internship Program.
The remote program allowed students to join us from Washington, California, Minnesota, and China during their summer break, where they learned about concussions, public health, nonprofit work, patient advocacy, stigma, healthcare, research, science writing, and more! The unique structure of this program combines daily educational curriculum with guided discussion groups and nearly 20 Expert Guest Speaker talks from leading researchers and clinicians in the field!
Below: Our interns talk with Expert Guest Speaker Nick Reed
Weeks usually featured a group discussion, 2-3 expert guest speaker talks, and a social hour––plus lots of close mentorship of interns' projects
(Did the Internship match your expectations?)
“I feel like it definitely exceeded my expectations. I feel like i will go on after this with a lot more knowledge than i thought i would. Now i have all this knowledge about concussions, treatment, recovery, like a lot surrounding that specific realm.”
Internship Projects
This year, our interns' primary project was to work in pairs to develop succinct educational flyers for several of our key pages. Our website resources are written to be accessible for patients and their advocates, but these comprehensive, detailed pages can take time to read and are only available on ConcussionAlliance.org.
Our interns worked with us to design flyers that deliver the most pertinent information quickly and can be printed out as a single, two-sided sheet.
We would love to make these flyers available in academic and healthcare settings! If you are a healthcare provider or school professional, please don't hesitate to reach out to us!
Here are links to the flyers on their pertinent resource pages:
3 flyers for different age ranges for our Pediatric Concussions: Babies, Toddlers, and Children resource
You can see all 5 flyers on one page here.
“I really liked writing my pieces for [the newsletter] and thought that what I was writing was really important to the concussion field in general. I enjoyed talking with everyone during discussions and knowing that everyone was engaged and listening, and that I was doing the same in my turn.”
Concussion Alliance volunteer's HuffPost article
“While each concussion was uniquely challenging, there was a critical difference between my first and subsequent injuries: I had better information. During recovery from my second concussion, I stumbled upon a website called the Concussion Alliance. One section, in bold letters, read: Concussion Myths. One myth stood out: “Do not lie in a dark room.” As I sat in the suffocating silence of my pitch-black room, tears streaming down my face, I realized I’d been doing everything wrong.”
This July, activist, concussion patient, and Concussion Alliance volunteer Sarah Goody published an article in HuffPost about her experience navigating the healthcare system while recovering from concussions.
In the article, she writes that finding Concussion Alliance was the spark that helped her realize that the advice she'd been given to 'cocoon' (rest in a dark room and avoid stimuli) was hurting her recovery instead of helping and set her on the path to proper care and rehabilitation.
(Did the Internship match your expectations?)
“Yes, but like every time we have discussions, guest speakers…guest speakers were my favorite part. These people are really hard to meet, and we can get a chance to hear them have a one-hour talk. This was a very valuable and precious talk.”
You Can Support Concussion Patients
Join our community of monthly donors committed to improving how concussions are prevented, managed, and treated, thereby supporting long-term brain health for all. Learn more.
You can also make an impact with a one-time gift or tax-friendly options such as Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), IRA Charitable Rollovers, and Planned Giving: leave a gift in your will. Learn more.