The Green Shoe Foundation is a

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

based in Edmond, Oklahoma. The foundation offers five-day retreats to help adults address past experiences, such as childhood traumas, and works to create better futures by allowing participants to live a life of peace and maturity, and by combatting social stigmas about mental health.

History

The Green Shoe Foundation was founded in October 2015 by Chad Richison (founder and CEO of Paycom). Originally based in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, it offered its first retreat in the summer of 2016. Retreats are five days long, led by professional counselors and therapists, and are for adults 21-years-old and older. In 2017, the foundation received the Dr. Murali Krishna Eliminating the Stigma Award. In 2020, Green Shoe offered free telehealth therapy sessions to medical professionals and first responders experiencing emotional trauma during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Green Shoe moved into a new 10,000 square foot facility which sits on 415 acres of land in September 2023. In eight years, over 2,000 people across 42 different states and multiple continents have participated in the program.

Process

Participants reserve their spot with a deposit. At the end of the retreat, the deposit is returned in full. In part, the retreats use Pia Mellody's work in codependency, boundaries, and the effects of childhood relational trauma on emotional development. The retreat also uses the

family systems theory The Internal Family Systems Model (IFS) is an integrative approach to individual psychotherapy developed by Richard C. Schwartz in the 1980s. It combines systems thinking with the view that the mind is made up of relatively discrete subperson ...

to help participants recognize patterns and cycles of behavior. This theory, developed by psychiatrist

Murray Bowen Murray Bowen ( ; January 31, 1913, in Waverly, Tennessee – October 9, 1990) was an American psychiatrist and a professor in psychiatry at Georgetown University. Bowen was among the pioneers of family therapy and a noted founder of systemic th ...

, states that behavioral patterns developed within relationship systems can either lead to balance or dysfunction, and recognizing these patterns and understanding their effect on current and past relationships can promote healing and healthy choices.

References

{{reflist Non-profit organizations based in Oklahoma Medical and health foundations based in the United States