Walt's Waltz is a compass and a megaphone for mental health education, equity, and stigma-free communities - born from one family's loss and carried forward by everyone who joins the step.
Our Mission
Walt's Waltz is dedicated to destigmatizing mental health, promoting equity in care and research funding, and empowering individuals through education and advocacy to foster hope and reduce suffering.
Our Vision
We envision a compassionate society where mental health is valued equally with physical health, eliminating stigma and empowering individuals to thrive.
“Mom, we will start a movement. If we save one life, it will be worth it.”
- Will Crooks, co-founder, two days after his brother Walt's death
Walt’s Story
On August 22, 2019, Walt died by suicide. He was 35 years old.
Walt was our son, Will’s big brother, a husband, teacher, and philosopher. My boys were seven years apart, but they were best friends. As their mom, watching their relationship grow was one of my greatest joys.
Walt was highly intelligent, deeply ethical, and philosophical from a young age. He taught at Clemson University and at a virtual charter school. He loved learning, the arts, music, and literature. He was well-read, curious about the world, and a true Renaissance man. He also loved the outdoors. He loved hiking, mountain biking, and swimming at Paris Mountain, paddleboarding, rock climbing, and being at the beach, where he loved surfing, the sand, and the waves. Nature was a place where he felt alive and connected to the world around him. He would tell me when I woud be on the couch bing watching some old program, “Mom, you have to live.”
Walt was known as the Gentle Giant, a nickname given to him by his eighth-grade basketball team. He loved deeply. He was kind and giving, and his smile could fill a room. When Walt spoke, people listened. Even in a large group, the room could become quiet because his words were thoughtful and carefully chosen. He was highly sensitive and felt the world deeply.
Walt was not embarrassed by his mental health struggles. But he was a quiet person, and most people did not know how much he was carrying. He lived with treatment-resistant anxiety, this lead to PTSD, and his last years depression.
After Walt died, I knew I could not let his life be defined by how it ended. Walt was so much more than his mental health struggles. He was our son, Will’s brother, a husband, a teacher, a philosopher, the Gentle Giant, and a deeply sensitive soul who loved life and the world around him.
Losing a child is a loss words cannot express. My son tried so many ways to get better. That is why Walt’s Waltz exists to do better.
Dear friends, WE MUST DO BETTER.
We are a small team, and do things differently. We could really use your help. Please join us.
9,000+ People Reached Each Year
Through workshops, tabling, and presentations
5,500+ Participants
in Painting Mental Health Workshops since 2022
25 & Counting
Stigma Free Environments in our community
100% Reported Improvement
in participants’ comfortability talking about their mental health
3 Steps, Danced on Repeat
Every program we run moves through the same three-beat rhythm. It's not a metaphor for its own sake — it's literally how we build a stigma-free community, one organization at a time.
EDUCATION
Let’s Make Mental Health Education Engaging
Mental health education should be more than a presentation. Walt’s Waltz takes a holistic approach, creating engaging experiences where people can learn, connect, relax, and have fun while becoming more comfortable talking about mental health.
Our educational programs include professionally led trainings, art-integrated workshops, educational tabling, group presentations, films, art exhibitions, wellbeing programs, Mental Health Moonshot, and more. We also provide Self-Care Kits with practical tools and resources that participants can take home and use in everyday life.
We believe education is one of the most powerful ways to reduce stigma, build understanding, and empower people to take care of their mental wellbeing. By making learning approachable and engaging, we create opportunities for people to gain knowledge, discover practical strategies, ask questions, and start conversations that might otherwise never happen.
We invite you to learn with us, start a conversation, and take what you learn into everyday life.
EQUITY
Let’s Put Mental Health on Equal Ground
From the beginning, Walt’s Waltz has advocated for mental health to be valued equally with physical health. We believe everyone deserves access to quality mental health care, counseling, education, and resources, regardless of zip code, income, or background. Where someone lives or what they can afford should never determine the quality of support they receive.
Equity also means investing in the science of mental health. Mental health conditions are complex and can have biological, environmental, and social factors. We need greater research funding to better understand genetics, epigenetics, neuroscience, biomarkers, and other factors that may lead to earlier intervention, better treatments, and improved outcomes.
Through education, advocacy, partnerships, and Mental Health Moonshot, Walt’s Waltz works to raise awareness, challenge inequities, and advocate for the attention, access, research, and funding mental health deserves.
We must do better. Mental health deserves the same attention, access, and investment as physical health.
STIGMA-FREE
Let’s Create a Stigma-Free Culture
Stigma can keep people silent, prevent them from asking for help, and make people feel alone. Being stigma-free starts with each of us. It means challenging our assumptions, being mindful of the language we use, learning about mental health, and creating space for honest conversations without shame or judgment.
Anyone can take the Walt’s Waltz Stigma-Free Pledge and make a personal commitment to help reduce stigma. Individuals can also become Walt’s Waltz Ambassadors, helping share education, resources, and support within their communities. Organizations can take the next step by becoming a Walt’s Waltz Stigma-Free Environment, creating workplaces, schools, campuses, and community spaces where mental health is openly discussed and support is encouraged.
Together, these actions help make mental health conversations more natural, compassionate, and accepted in everyday life.
It starts with each of us. Sign the pledge, become an ambassador, or help create a Stigma-Free Environment.
Ways we show up in our community
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Hands-on sessions using art as self-expression, covering stigma, the mental health continuum, and practical self-care - with variations like Painting Wellbeing, Painting Grief, and Music, Art & Poetry, adapted for students, parents, seniors, workplaces, and community groups.
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We speak directly at schools, workplaces, and community organizations, and arrange free professional trainings like Mental Health First Aid Certification, on a variety of mental health topics.
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We partner directly with workplaces, schools, healthcare systems, nonprofits, and municipalities, currently 25 organizations strong, to build lasting, pledged commitments to open mental health conversations.
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You'll find us with a table at community events and health fairs, offering free mental health screenings, teaching, and hands-on painting activities on the spot.
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Coming Soon
A new pilot in development, planned to serve 75 families with tools and support to talk openly about mental health at home.
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Six community art exhibits so far, giving Walt's story and the broader conversation public, visible space.
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Open to everyone, a way to build community, support one another, and push back against the loneliness epidemic, through hands-on work like making pins, stuffing self-care bags, and painting cards for people going through a hard season.
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Coming Soon
Walt's Waltz is launching its first-ever support group, a pilot for those with OCD. As it grows, we hope to add support groups for other needs as well.
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On a three-hour outreach drive, we presented our mental health programs in small groups over two hours, serving 39 migrant workers with mental health resources and our signature self-care kits. Their kindness left our hearts full.
Our programs and services are offered in English and Spanish
