ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Hania Taduran
Hania Taduran
Founder
Hania Taduran is the Founder of Breaking Barriers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to redefining the narrative around mental health in athletics. A Florida International University Psychology graduate and former Division I beach volleyball player, Hania now pursues her Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy at Pepperdine University.
Her mission is rooted in both personal experience and professional purpose, the belief that no athlete should ever feel alone in their struggle.
At just six years old, Hania lost her father to suicide. Years later, during high school, she faced another devastating loss when her therapist, a trusted mentor, also died by suicide. Navigating profound grief while competing as a high-level athlete, she faced performance anxiety, depression, and a deep loss of identity. In college, she made a powerful choice: to heal her mental health with the same dedication she gave to her physical training.
Through journaling, education, and introspection, she began to rebuild from within. In 2020, she founded a campus mental health club at the University of the Pacific, an initiative that grew into Breaking Barriers, now a national movement advocating for athlete mental health, awareness, and empowerment.
Beyond her nonprofit leadership, Hania has developed expertise across therapeutic partnerships, outreach strategy, clinical operations, and mental health innovation. Her background spans business optimization and sustainable growth across the evolving landscape of mental healthcare. She is particularly passionate about the intersection of neuropsychology and psychotherapy, exploring how neurotransmitters shape behavior, cognition, and emotion.
Approaching therapy through a trauma-informed, psychopharmacologically aware lens, Hania recognizes the synergistic impact of medication and therapeutic interventions in addressing complex mental health challenges. Her clinical focus centers on grief and trauma therapy, helping individuals process pain, rediscover purpose, and reclaim their sense of self.
Driven by a deep passion for healing and empowerment, Hania is committed to creating safe, inclusive, and transformative spaces where individuals and athletes alike can explore their emotions, cultivate resilience, and embrace growth.
For her, Breaking Barriers is more than an organization, it’s the safe space she once needed herself. Every story shared, every stigma challenged, is a step toward change. And if her work helps even one person feel seen, she considers it all worth it.
Kristen Thierolf
Licensed Clinical Therapist
Kristen Thierolf, LPC, LCPC is a licensed therapist and founder of Healthy Horizons Counseling PLLC, a fully virtual practice serving high-functioning adults and couples across Texas and Montana.
With a background in competitive athletics and a deep understanding of performance culture, Kristen specializes in anxiety, burnout, attachment patterns, and nervous system regulation. She works with driven individuals — including athletes, leaders, and high achievers — who appear composed externally but experience internal pressure, perfectionism, and emotional overwhelm.
Her approach integrates attachment-informed therapy with practical nervous system tools to build sustainable resilience, emotional regulation, and confident performance both on and off the field.
Kristen is passionate about expanding mental health conversations within sports communities and redefining strength as the courage to be seen, supported, and fully human. She is honored to partner with Breaking Barriers in expanding stigma-free mental health conversations within athletic communities.
