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Strength isn’t
silence. It never was.
Breaking Barriers advocates for mental health in sport, challenging the stigma that keeps athletes quiet, and building real support for athletes, coaches, and programs ready to change the culture.
WHAT ATHLETES CARRY IN SILENCE
1 in 4
college athletes show signs of depression.
128
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among NCAA athletes. Between 2002 and 2022, 128 college athletes died by suicide, at an average age of 20.
1 in 2
student-athletes feel their mental health is a priority within their athletics department.
250+
Athletes supported through Breaking Barriers via our personalized mental wellness and performance 1:1 workshops
“We built Breaking Barriers for every athlete who deserved
support and never got it, and for every one who still does. Behind every statistic is a story. We're here to change how it ends.”
Vulnerability is courage. We are here to prove it.
At Breaking Barriers, we are reimagining how the world views mental health in sports. Every voice matters. Every struggle deserves understanding. And every athlete deserves a space where they do not have to choose between their wellbeing and their team.
We believe that speaking up is an act of strength, not weakness. We believe that the culture of 'mental toughness' that tells athletes to push through pain, stay quiet, and figure it out alone is not toughness at all. It is a system that fails athletes every day.
Breaking Barriers exists to change that system. Through storytelling, education, community, and advocacy, we work
at every level of the athletic ecosystem to build cultures where mental health is treated
with the same seriousness as physical health.
EXPRESS
Amplify athlete voices through safe, visible platforms. Normalize mental health through lived experience. Empower athletes to speak openly without fear or shame.
EDUCATE
Build mental health literacy. Promote early intervention. Help every level of the athletic system recognize distress and respond with care.
COMBAT
Challenge outdated narratives in sport culture. Advocate for systemic change. Create pathways to actual care, not just awareness.
Hania Taduran
OUR FOUNDNG STORY
Built from the inside.
Grounded in what
athletes actually live
Breaking Barriers was founded by Hania Taduran, a former Division I beach volleyball player who lost her father to suicide when she was six years old, and her therapist to suicide in high school. She processed both losses the way sport culture teaches you to: by pushing through, staying focused, and keeping quiet. In college, she watched teammates quietly disappear into eating disorders, burnout, and depression while showing up every day and performing. She saw the fear of losing playing time, scholarships, and a starting spot keep athletes from ever asking for help. She ran an anonymous survey at her own university and found that 70% of athletes felt neglected, and 83% did not trust coaches or staff with their mental health. The data was powerful enough that it led directly to the hiring of a sports psychologist. Advocacy works.
“The athlete is not the problem. The environment that taught them to stay silent is, and until every coach, department, and every system in that environment embraces that mental health is a collective responsibility, we will keep asking individuals to heal inside a world that was never built to hold them. Stigma is a systemic problem.”
— Hania Taduran
BUILDING A HEALTHIER CULTURE
Programs for athletes, coaches, parents, and
programs ready to change their culture.
Workshops
Live, virtual sessions for athletes, coaches, parents, and administrators. Topics from burnout and grief to psychological safety and trauma-informed leadership.
Webinars & Events
Live conversations with clinicians, advocates, and athletes on the issues that matter most in sport.
Suicide Prevention
Training
Evidence-informed training on awareness, warning signs, and response. For coaches, staff, parents, and athletes.
Support Groups
Monthly virtual peer groups for athletes navigating grief, identity loss, and suicide bereavement.
Free Toolkits
Downloadable resources on the mental health topics athletes actually face. No
cost, no barrier, available immediately.
Ambassador Program
For athletes who believe mental health in sport deserves more than silence, and are ready to do something about it.
Wear the mission. Fuel the movement.
Every item in our collection is a conversation starter. 100% of proceeds support mental health resources and programming for athletes. This is not just apparel. It is purpose you can wear.
CLASSIC TEE
$30
MUG
$16
UNISEX HOODIE
$45
HAT
$19
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