Edward Darrah

Ed Darrah, a licensed and board-certified mental health counselor, joined the University of Virginia Athletics in November 2023 as the Director of Performance Enhancement & Mental Health. In this new role, Darrah provides mental health, wellness, and performance services to the athletic department’s coaches and staff.

Darrah brings a wealth of experience in mental health counseling and sports performance to UVA. Prior to his current position, he served at Temple University for five years, where he played a crucial role in establishing and advancing student-athlete mental health services. At Temple Darrah was the first full-time staff Mental Health Counselor from 2018 to 2022 and was promoted to Director of Mental Health for Temple Athletics in 2022. In this role, Darrah supervised clinical staff, managed clinical practice, and led efforts to improve mental health preventive screenings for over 550 student-athletes. He implemented the Sport Mental Health Assessment Tool 1 (SMHAT-1) to identify mental health symptoms and disorders in elite athletes and improved the annual mental health screening completion rate over four years.

During his tenure at Temple, Darrah served as the mental health and performance liaison for nine of the 18 athletic teams. He led the athletic department’s CARE Team and enhanced intern processes by implementing HIPAA-compliant technology for better referral management, data collection, and internal collaboration. He transitioned the department to digital care solutions, including telehealth services, and led the response to COVID-19. Darrah introduced measurement-based care through a partnership with Blueprint Health, quantifying outcomes for student-athletes receiving mental health care. Additionally, he established a collaborative partnership with Hall of Fame Health to expand mental health support to current and former Temple student-athletes across the U.S.

Darrah is listed on The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Mental Health Registry and holds clinical licensure in Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Florida. He achieved board certifications in counseling and TeleMental Health through the National Board of Certified Counselors.

Darrah graduated from La Salle  with a master’s in clinical counseling-psychology with a concentration in industrial-organizational consulting in May 2012. He completed his practicum at Amtrak’s Employee Assistance Program in New York City and his clinical internship at Northeastern Health Services (NHS). He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Neumann University and was on the university’s baseball team. Darrah served as an assistant baseball coach at Arcadia University for two seasons from 2010-2011.

Outside his professional work, Darrah enjoys spending time with friends and family and playing golf in his spare time.