Our mission

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Our mission 🧠

The Broadway Mental Health Foundation stands in solidarity with every artist, fighting to change the industry and create a system that is safe, healthy, and empowering for all. Our focus is on the gradual change needed in order to flip the current paradigms of shame, psychological mistreatment, and toxic workplace environments that are rife in our art form today.

The “Broadway” in BMHF covers all creatives in the theatrical industry, in any U.S. state — those currently on Broadway, those employed at regional theaters, Equity and Non-Equity status holders, technical crew members, hair and makeup teams, students at performance schools, and anyone who has experienced trauma from the sphere.

Broadway is everyone and all of us.

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SPECIALTIES DIVISION

DEPARTMENT OF MOOD DISORDERS

The cyclical, high-stakes nature of the theatrical gig economy can wreak havoc on an artist’s baseline stability. This department is dedicated to providing barrier-free support for artists navigating depression, bipolar disorder, and severe clinical burnout. We actively reject the romanticized notion of the "tortured artist" and instead focus on sustainable, evidence-based care.

Future & Developing Programming:

• Support Groups: Clinician-facilitated spaces designed to help artists safely navigate the severe depressive crashes that often accompany a career in the performing arts.

• Targeted Curricula: Specialized resource guides and webinars on managing mood fluctuations during grueling tech weeks, identifying the difference between industry burnout and clinical depression, and navigating hypomania in highly stimulating creative spaces.

• Crisis Blueprints: Actionable, backstage protocols for stage managers and leadership to support casts experiencing acute mood-related crises during a production.

DEPARTMENT OF PERSONALITY DISORDERS

Future & Developing Programming:

• Industry-Specific DBT Skills: Virtual masterclasses translating Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and emotional regulation techniques specifically for actors, dancers, and creatives navigating rejection, emotional recall, and the intense interpersonal dynamics of a rehearsal room.

• Destigmatized Support Spaces: Safe, confidential peer-to-peer and clinician-led groups for artists to find solidarity, unlearn industry shame, and build resilience.

• Boundary & Grounding Curricula: Worksheets and seminars focused on somatic grounding techniques for high-stress audition rooms and establishing rigid boundaries between the "character" and the "self."

For too long, the performing arts industry has stigmatized, misunderstood, or actively exploited the deep emotional reservoirs of artists living with personality disorders. This department approaches conditions like Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and other cluster disorders through a fiercely trauma-informed, radically destigmatizing lens. We equip artists with the exact tools they need to engage in vulnerable storytelling without sacrificing their own psychological safety.

DEPARTMENT OF NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

The traditional structures of the performing arts — from chaotic audition holding rooms to sensory-overwhelming 10-out-of-12s — were not built with neurodivergent artists in mind. This department is dedicated to supporting artists navigating ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and sensory processing differences. We are moving beyond mere "awareness" to demand active, systemic accommodation, ensuring neurodivergent creatives can thrive as their authentic, unmasked selves.

Future & Developing Programming:

• Neurodivergent Artist Support Groups: Empowering, affirmative spaces for AuDHD and neurodivergent theatrical workers to connect, share lived experiences, and navigate the specific executive functioning demands of the freelance hustle.

• Advocacy & Accommodation Curricula: Step-by-step guides and workshops empowering artists to legally and safely request necessary accommodations in the rehearsal room, alongside training for theaters on how to implement sensory-friendly production practices.

• Executive Functioning Seminars: Specialized masterclasses offering industry-literate strategies for managing audition prep, self-tapes, and the administrative heavy-lifting required of independent gig-economy workers.

EATING DISORDER SPECIALTIES DIVISION

OUR industry is notoriously aesthetic-heavy, often actively rewarding disordered eating and punishing natural body diversity. This division operates with aN uncompromising, anti-diet culture mandate. We are dedicated to dismantling the systemic body dysmorphia, weight stigma, and eating disorders that are so deeply INTERTWINED WITH OUR COMMUNITY. From the audition holding room to the costume fitting, we demand that an artist's castability, talent, and inherent worth are never tied to their body size, shape, or weight.

Future & Developing Programming:

• Industry-Specific Support Spaces: Clinician-facilitated peer groups tailored to the unique, daily triggers of the rehearsal room. We are building safe havens for dancers navigating mirror trauma, actors processing the dysmorphia of "type-casting," and artists in active recovery seeking solidarity.

• Advocacy & Somatic Curricula: Radical virtual masterclasses and resource guides addressing the realities of surviving an aesthetic-driven industry. Topics include navigating high-stress costume fittings, establishing bodily autonomy in the rehearsal space, and actively unlearning the toxic, systemic myth of the "dancer body."

• Creative Leadership Blueprints: Actionable, step-by-step protocols equipping directors, choreographers, and wardrobe departments with the tools to foster weight-inclusive, radically body-neutral environments. We are providing the education necessary to ensure that diet culture and aesthetic shaming are permanently evicted from the creative process.

EQUITY & ADVOCACY DIVISION

DEPARTMENT OF CHILD & ADOLESCENT ARTISTS

The entertainment industry often forces young performers to navigate adult pressures, high-stakes rejection, and grueling schedules during their most critical developmental years. This department is dedicated to fiercely protecting the psychological safety of youth and teen artists. We actively work to dismantle the toxic normalization of exploitation in youth programming, demanding that a young person's inherent well-being and humanity always come before their career.

Future & Developing Programming:

• Youth & Teen Support Spaces: Safe, clinician-facilitated peer groups for young artists to process rejection, build their identities outside of their art, and navigate the notoriously difficult psychological transition from child to adult roles.

• The Guardian Curricula: Radical psychoeducation and resources for parents, guardians, and chaperones on how to effectively shield young artists from burnout, diet culture, and backstage boundary violations.

• Developmental Safeguard Blueprints: Actionable protocols for theaters, studios, and productions to ensure age-appropriate psychological boundaries and trauma-informed practices are rigorously maintained in rehearsal rooms.

DEPARTMENT OF MATURE ARTISTS

The performing arts can be profoundly ageist, often marginalizing the very artists who built the foundation of the industry. This department fiercely advocates for the psychological and systemic support of mature artists navigating an aesthetic-heavy, youth-obsessed gig economy. We honor your legacy, your lived experience, and your ongoing contributions, demanding that care, visibility, and respect extend through every single season of an artist's career.

Future & Developing Programming:

• The "Next Act" Support Groups: Dedicated, clinician-led spaces for veteran artists to find solidarity, process the complex grief of aging out of certain roles, and navigate the realities of long-term theatrical careers.

• Career Evolution & Identity Seminars: Virtual masterclasses focused on redefining artistic identity, combatting the psychological impact of industry ageism, and exploring mentorship as a fulfilling, sustainable creative avenue.

• Systemic Longevity Advocacy: Resource guides and advocacy campaigns addressing the profound lack of structural safety nets, focusing on financial anxiety, healthcare access, and the unique burnout experienced by aging gig-economy workers.

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL IMPACT

True mental health care cannot exist without social justice. This department operates at the macro level to actively dismantle the systemic oppression, racism, and intersectional trauma baked into the traditional theatrical ecosystem. This is the engine of our industry-wide reform, moving beyond individual therapy to mobilize massive coalitions that will rewrite the performing arts' social contract from the ground up.

Current & Developing Programming:

• The Arts Evolution Alliance: Our flagship national coalition of theaters, educational institutions, and advocacy groups. Through The Alliance, we partner with organizations to provide free clinical infrastructure, backstage referral pipelines, and crisis blueprints, actively ensuring that human care is never contingent on an operating budget.

• Marginalized Artist Support Spaces: Highly protected, clinician-led groups specifically dedicated to BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disabled artists, providing safe havens to heal from systemic trauma and navigate microaggressions within the industry.

• Advocacy Toolkits: Free, actionable resources empowering both artists and institutions to implement anti-racist, anti-diet culture, and equitable policies in their daily production practices.

HOLISTIC HEALTH & WELLNESS DIVISION

DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION & OUTREACH

We can’T change the industry without fundamentally changing the narrative. Housing our Creative & Media Team, this department serves as the radical, public-facing megaphone for the BMHF mission. We actively dismantle the glorification of burnout and the "starving artist" trope through targeted digital advocacy, disruptive media campaigns, and community storytelling. We are taking mental health education out of the clinic and putting it directly into the hands, feeds, and rehearsal bags of ALL THEATRE INDUSTRY MEMBERS.

Current & Developing Programming:

• Digital Advocacy Campaigns: High-impact social media initiatives (i.e., our “Mental Health Spotlight” series on Instagram), collaborations through our Artist Advocate roster, and multimedia projects designed to destigmatize seeking help, redefine artistic resilience, and challenge the systemic exploitation of theatrical workers.

• The Wounded Healers Podcast: Expanding our flagship audio platform to amplify the voices of artist advocates, sharing lived experiences, and sparking vital, unfiltered conversations about surviving and thriving in the arts.

• Community Resource Hubs: Curating highly accessible, artist-centric digital toolkits (including infographics, grounding guides, and rights-based psychoeducation) designed to be quickly referenced during a grueling tech week or between auditions.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH FOR THE ARTS

the beating heart of our clinical infrastructure. We firmly reject the notion that psychological suffering is a prerequisite for creating great art. Operating as our central hub for external partnerships, this department houses our Clinical Affiliate Network (C.A.N.), Educational Affiliate Network (E.A.N.), and the Creative Care Continuum (C.C.C.). Here, we do the rigorous, systemic work of bridging the gap between the theatrical workforce and trauma-informed, industry-literate care.

Future & Developing Programming:

• Direct Referral Pipelines: Managing the seamless, expedited connection between artists in crisis and our vetted C.C.C. clinics, ensuring fast access to higher-acuity, sliding-scale, or culturally competent care.

• Affiliate-Led Initiatives: Coordinating a robust calendar of free webinars, panels, and seminars facilitated by our C.A.N. and E.A.N. experts, covering everything from vocal health and somatic grounding to navigating the psychological impact of a 10-out-of-12.

• The Professional Directory: Building and maintaining a comprehensive, highly vetted database of therapists, dietitians, and practitioners who inherently understand the unique stressors of the theatrical gig economy, eliminating the burden on the artist to "explain the industry" to their provider.

The Broadway Mental Health Foundation needs you. We’re looking for fellow artists and performers, mental health practitioners, and innovative creatives to help us pioneer a movement that will change the industry — and Broadway — forever. Our Idealistic, long term goals Include:

    • Educational seminars in performing arts universities and colleges, studios, and conservatories that unmask the toxicity of the industry and teach up-and-coming creatives about the importance of their own mental health amidst a culture of fear and shame

    • Sponsoring events, protests, campus walks, etc. that encourage the dismantling of the performance industry as we know it — an industry that has, for over a century, profited off manipulation, coercion, and judgement — and an industry that does not value the true spirit of the artist

    • Formulating programs to end the rising rate of suicide in performers, on and off Broadway

    • Formulating programs to end the epidemic of eating disorders in performers, on and off Broadway

    • Hosting panels, Q&As, talk-backs, etc. that provide the community with groundbreaking mental health resources with the arts; i.e. literacy concerning personality disorders, anxiety and depressive disorders, and mood disorders

    • Creating media such as podcasts, virtual events and interviews, and social media initiatives to spark engagement and generate interest in mental health reform

    • Installing licensed therapists and counselors on staff for all Equity and Non-Equity productions and in all Equity theaters

    • Creating a mental health fund to assist artists-in-need who are not financially able to attend regular therapy sessions/receive adequate treatment or medication

    • Requiring employees of partnering organizations to complete a mandatory mental health training as to promote mental health literacy from the inside-out

    • Equity: our aim is fair and consistent access to mental health resources for artists regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, age, or religion.

    • Justice: we believe in providing justice to an industry that has historically abused its artists and contributed to varying forms of mental illness. Creating safe and healthy spaces within theatre is our vehicle of social justice.

    • Commitment to the Betterment of Mental Health Care in the Arts: as we say here frequently, healthy artists make better art. BMHF is confident that access to mental health resources and care nationwide will in turn create better leaders and better systems.

    • Progress & Liberation: in order for our art form to survive well into the 21st century and beyond, we look to create healthy, well-rounded artists who inspire with empathy and heart. We want our industry to liberate itself from harmful practices and ideology and progress towards systemic change.

let’s collaborate

Interested in working with us and furthering the mission of BMHF? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!