We Believe That Being Sober is Anything But Boring.
The Break Free Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the conversation surrounding substance use, mental health, disordered eating, and co-occurring illnesses.
We believe stigma thrives in silence.
So we create spaces where these difficult conversations can happen openly—through community programming, storytelling, and culture.
Our signature initiative, Recovery on the Runway, brings that mission to one of the world's most visible cultural events twice each year; New York Fashion Week.
Our Story
Break Free started as a love letter from our founder, Alexandra Nyman, to her brother—a suicide attempt survivor and fellow creative.
Growing up in an area with few accessible treatment resources, Alexandra's family experienced firsthand how difficult finding help could be. Care often meant traveling hours to a major city, navigating long waitlists, and waiting for support that never seemed to come fast enough. In those gaps, people willing to share their own lived experiences became a lifeline, helping her brother develop ways to cope and showing their family the power of peer support.
Those experiences shaped the foundation of Break Free.
As a person in long-term recovery and a designer, Alexandra also wanted to bring together two worlds she loved: fashion and recovery. While working in the entertainment industry, she met fellow creatives who felt pressured to keep their recovery status private, fearing that speaking openly about addiction or mental health could change how they were perceived or affect the careers they had worked so hard to build.
She wanted to create something different: a space where recovery wasn't hidden but celebrated, where everyone could see.
What began as an effort to merge fashion with advocacy has grown into a broader mission to reduce stigma, expand education, promote harm reduction, and help individuals and families find the resources they need. Through our collaboration with 10,000 Beds, Break Free has provided treatment scholarships to 15 individuals seeking inpatient care, while our main initiative, Recovery on the Runway, has given designers, models, advocates, and creatives a highly visible platform to recover out loud.
At the heart of our work is the belief that no family should have to navigate a crisis alone. No one should feel ashamed of being in recovery. And no one should have to hide what they've survived in order to belong.
Break Free exists to help spark the conversations, community, and visibility that our founder once wished her own family had.
Because when we recover out loud, we show others what life on the other side can look like.
Our Values
Lived Experience
We value lived experience as a friend, family member, or individual who has been impacted by mental health, substance use, or disordered eating.
Dignity
Every person deserves to be treated as a human being—not as a diagnosis, a statistic, or a stereotype.
Community
Recovery is possible when you know that you aren't alone.
Accessibility
Information and resources should be easy to understand and easier to reach.
Inclusivity
Recovery has no single culture, sexuality, or gender identity.
Hope
We believe people's hardest chapters do not have to be their last.
“Self-care is the number one solution to helping somebody else. If you are being good to yourself and your body and your psyche, that serves other people better because you will grow strong enough to lift someone else up.”
— Mary Lambert
Our Leadership Team
Alexandra Nyman, CARC-RPA, RCP, SRCP-D
Founder & Executive Director
Alexandra Nyman founded Break Free Foundation at the intersection of advocacy and fashion.
As a person with lived experience and a longtime advocate for substance use disorder, mental health, and co-occurring disorders, Alexandra has worked to create spaces where people can speak openly about experiences that are too often hidden by stigma.
Her background in fashion and communications has helped shape Break Free's distinctive approach: using culture and creativity not simply to raise awareness, but to change what recovery looks and feels like in public.
Claire Comai
Vice President
Claire Comai is the founder and creative director of Rehab Studios, a fashion brand born from her creativity in early recovery.
Her work sits at the intersection of fashion, culture, and recovery, using clothing and storytelling to challenge conventional ideas about sobriety and identity.
As a member of both the fashion and recovery communities, Claire brings lived experience and creative perspective to Break Free's mission of making recovery visible, aspirational, and unapologetic.
Andrew Littlefield, CARC-RPA, RCP
Treasurer
Andrew Littlefield is a nonprofit development and social services professional with experience in grant writing, community outreach, program development, and resource coordination. He has integrated AI tools into nonprofit work to support grant research, communications, planning, and organizational efficiency.
Currently pursuing his Master of Social Work at Louisiana State University, Andrew is passionate about using technology to strengthen nonprofits, expand access to resources, and help mission-driven organizations work more effectively.
Transparency
Trust matters.
As a nonprofit organization, Break Free is committed to transparency, responsible governance, and the ethical stewardship of the support entrusted to us.
Collaborators
Our Recovery on the Runway Partners
