Green Shoe Foundation

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The Green Shoe Foundation is a mental health nonprofit organization based in Edmond, Oklahoma. [1]

Contents

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. [1]

History

The Green Shoe Foundation was founded in October 2015 by Chad Richison (founder and CEO of Paycom). [2] [3] Originally based in Oklahoma City, it offered its first retreat in the summer of 2016. [2] [3] Retreats are five days long, led by professional counselors and therapists, and are for adults 21-years-old and older. [2]

In 2017, the foundation received the Dr. Murali Krishna Eliminating the Stigma Award. [4]

In 2020, Green Shoe offered free telehealth therapy sessions to medical professionals and first responders experiencing emotional trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] [6]

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. [7]

Process

Participants reserve their spot with a deposit. At the end of the retreat, the deposit is returned in full. [8]

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 to help participants recognize patterns and cycles of behavior. [2] This theory, developed by psychiatrist Murray Bowen, states that behavioral patterns developed within relationship systems can either lead to balance or dysfunction, [9] and recognizing these patterns and understanding their effect on current and past relationships can promote healing and healthy choices. [9]

Related Research Articles

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a person's life or well-being. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in the way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event. Young children are less likely to show distress, but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm.

Psychological trauma is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events that are outside the normal range of human experiences, with extreme examples being violence, rape, or a terrorist attack. The event must be understood by the affected person as directly threatening the affected person or their loved ones with death, severe bodily injury, or sexual violence; indirect exposure, such as from watching television news, may be extremely distressing and can produce an involuntary and possibly overwhelming physiological stress response, but does not produce trauma per se.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Depression (mood)</span> State of low mood and aversion to activity

Depression is a mental state of low mood and aversion to activity. It affects more than 280 million people of all ages. Depression affects a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being. Depressed people often experience loss of motivation or interest in, or reduced pleasure or joy from, experiences that would normally bring them pleasure or joy. Depressed mood is a symptom of some mood disorders such as major depressive disorder and dysthymia; it is a normal temporary reaction to life events, such as the loss of a loved one; and it is also a symptom of some physical diseases and a side effect of some drugs and medical treatments. It may feature sadness, difficulty in thinking and concentration and a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping. People experiencing depression may have feelings of dejection or hopelessness and may experience suicidal thoughts. It can either be short term or long term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mental health</span> Level of human psychological well-being

Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. According to World Health Organization (WHO), it is a "state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can contribute to his or her community". It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health includes subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others. From the perspectives of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Cultural differences, personal philosophy, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how one defines "mental health". Some early signs related to mental health difficulties are sleep irritation, lack of energy, lack of appetite, thinking of harming oneself or others, self-isolating, and frequently zoning out.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art therapy</span> Creation of art to improve mental health

Art therapy is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art therapy, as a creative arts therapy profession, originated in the fields of art and psychotherapy and may vary in definition. Art therapy encourages creative expression through painting, drawing, or modelling. It may work by providing a person with a safe space to express their feelings and allow them to feel more in control over their life.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) is a stress-related mental disorder generally occurring in response to complex traumas, i.e., commonly prolonged or repetitive exposures to a series of traumatic events, within which individuals perceive little or no chance to escape.

Recovered-memory therapy (RMT) is a catch-all term for a controversial and scientifically discredited form of psychotherapy that critics say utilizes one or more unproven therapeutic techniques to purportedly help patients recall previously forgotten memories. Proponents of recovered memory therapy claim, contrary to evidence, that traumatic memories can be buried in the subconscious and thereby affect current behavior, and that these memories can be recovered through the use of RMT techniques. RMT is not recommended by professional mental health associations.

Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse, witnessing abuse of a sibling or parent, or having a mentally ill parent. These events have profound psychological, physiological, and sociological impacts and can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being such as unsocial behaviors, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and sleep disturbances. Similarly, children whose mothers have experienced traumatic or stressful events during pregnancy have an increased risk of mental health disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabor Maté</span> Canadian physician (born 1944)

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OU Health is the combination of OU Medical Center – Oklahoma City & Edmond, the Children's Hospital, OU Physicians, OU Children's Physicians, the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, and the Peggy and Charles Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center. OU Health focuses on improving health by collaboration, searching for innovation and encouraging high performance.

PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a psychiatric disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts and memories, dreams or flashbacks of the event; avoidance of people, places and activities that remind the individual of the event; ongoing negative beliefs about oneself or the world, mood changes and persistent feelings of anger, guilt or fear; alterations in arousal such as increased irritability, angry outbursts, being hypervigilant, or having difficulty with concentration and sleep.

Child psychoanalysis is a sub-field of psychoanalysis which was founded by Anna Freud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgenerational trauma</span> Psychological trauma

Transgenerational trauma is the psychological and physiological effects that the trauma experienced by people has on subsequent generations in that group. The primary modes of transmission are the uterine environment during pregnancy causing epigenetic changes in the developing embryo, and the shared family environment of the infant causing psychological, behavioral and social changes in the individual. The term intergenerational transmission refers to instances whereby the traumatic effects are passed down from the directly traumatized generation [F0] to their offspring [F1], and transgenerational transmission is when the offspring [F1] then pass the effects down to descendants who have not been exposed to the initial traumatic event - at least the grandchildren [F2] of the original sufferer for males, and their great-grandchildren [F3] for females.

Chad Richison is an American entrepreneur who has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Paycom since its founding. A native Oklahoman, Richison began his career in sales with ADP, a global payroll provider, before moving to Colorado to work for a smaller, regional payroll provider. In 1998, Richison returned his family to Oklahoma and founded Paycom.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include childhood emotional, physical, or sexual abuse and household dysfunction during childhood. The categories are verbal abuse, physical abuse, contact sexual abuse, a battered mother, household substance abuse, household mental illness, incarcerated household members, and parental separation or divorce. The experiences chosen were based upon prior research that has shown to them to have significant negative health or social implications, and for which substantial efforts are being made in the public and private sector to reduce their frequency of occurrence. Scientific evidence is mounting that such adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have a profound long-term effect on health. Research shows that exposure to abuse and to serious forms of family dysfunction in the childhood family environment are likely to activate the stress response, thus potentially disrupting the developing nervous, immune, and metabolic systems of children. ACEs are associated with lifelong physical and mental health problems that emerge in adolescence and persist into adulthood, including cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, autoimmune diseases, substance abuse, and depression.

Trauma-sensitive yoga is yoga as exercise, adapted from 2002 onwards for work with individuals affected by psychological trauma. Its goal is to help trauma survivors to develop a greater sense of mind-body connection, to ease their physiological experiences of trauma, to gain a greater sense of ownership over their bodies, and to augment their overall well-being. However, a 2019 systematic review found that the studies to date were not sufficiently robustly designed to provide strong evidence of yoga's effectiveness as a therapy; it called for further research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT health in South Korea</span>

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Keith Stephen Dobson is a Canadian psychologist, academic and researcher. He is a professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary in Canada and has also served as Head of Psychology Department and Director of the Clinical Psychology program at the university. He is President of the World Confederation of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies.

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References

  1. 1 2 Mueller, Brian (2021-01-14). "Edmond Mental Health Non-profit Receives Massive Donation". News 9. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Green Shoe Foundation - Edmond Outlook". 2018-05-31. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  3. 1 2 "Green Shoe Foundation of OKC to host groundbreaking". Oklahoman.com. 2018-02-01. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  4. "Green Shoe breaks ground on a new metro retreat center". edmondlifeandleisure.com. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  5. "Oklahoma nonprofit offering free therapy sessions for COVID-19 first responders". KFOR.com Oklahoma City. 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  6. Garcia, Mireya (2020-05-08). "Free self-care tips that can help you manage stress during the coronavirus pandemic". KOKH. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  7. Griffin, David. "Free Program Offering Counseling For Adults With Childhood Trauma". www.news9.com. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  8. Garcia, Mireya (2019-04-30). "Getting help in a mental health crisis". KOKH. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  9. 1 2 "Family Systems Theory Definition & What Is It? | ReGain". www.regain.us. Retrieved 2021-06-18.