How a trauma-informed executive wellness retreat is rewriting the story of CEO burnout and leadership resilience.
The CEO sat on the shoreline, shoes abandoned in the sand, phone finally powered off. For the first time in years, there was no board meeting to prepare for, no crisis to manage, no late-night email demanding an instant reply. There was only the sound of the waves and a single unsettling realization. Success had cost more than anyone had warned. Her body ached from years of stress. Her mind felt numb. Her relationships were fraying. She had built the company of her dreams, yet she was quietly burning out.
She had tried the usual fixes. Spa weekends. Meditation apps. Leadership books stacked on the nightstand. None of it touched the exhaustion that lived in her nervous system. When she arrived at Dr. Annise Mabry’s Rise + Release Retreat, she did not need another productivity hack. She needed a different way to lead and to live.
Rise + Release became that turning point. Not because it offered escape, but because it offered restoration. On that beach, guided by trauma-informed coaching, somatic healing, and a new language for sustainable leadership, she began to rebuild from the inside out. She returned to her company not just rested, but fundamentally reset. This is the kind of CEO burnout solution that The Dr. Annise Mabry Foundation is quietly delivering to leaders who are ready to move from burnout to breakthrough.
From Educational Disobedience to Executive Resilience
The story of Rise + Release begins far from a luxury resort. It begins at a kitchen table where a mother refused to accept that traditional systems could decide the future of her children. That mother was Dr. Annise Mabry. Out of that refusal she created the Tiers Free Homeschool Cooperative, which has grown into Georgia’s largest online homeschool cooperative serving families in all 50 states.
Tiers Free Academy has issued more than 1,000 homeschool diplomas and supported nearly 6,000 families nationwide. Its graduates move into technical college, workforce pipelines, and living wage careers at rates that exceed state averages. These outcomes did not come from theory. They came from designing trauma-informed, student-centered pathways for people whom the system had already counted out.
As her work expanded, Dr. Mabry became a nationally recognized thought leader in what she calls Educational Disobedience® . She challenged entrenched assumptions about who deserves opportunity and how learning should work. Her bestselling memoir, Educational Disobedience: A Mom Who Became a Movement, earned the 2025 Literary Titan Award and the 2024 BookFest Nonfiction Award, and it positioned her as a trusted voice for educators, CEOs, and policymakers who want scalable, humane solutions.
That same refusal to accept burnout as the cost of leadership is what now powers her executive wellness retreat and leadership resilience coaching. The throughline is clear. Every barrier can become a blueprint. Every system can be redesigned for healing and performance, including the way executives lead themselves.
A Founder Who Builds What Others Only Talk About
Many consultants speak about transformation. Dr. Annise Mabry builds it.
She is the architect of the nation’s first rural multi-agency co-responder program, a pioneering public safety and mental health collaboration that reshaped how rural communities respond to crisis. Her vision earned the inaugural Georgia City Solutions Award and was funded through a $1.6 million grant that she authored. In another project, her grant writing brought clean drinking water back to the City of Tennille for the first time since the 1960s. As Mayor Eartha Cummings noted, that work did not simply fund a project. It changed the quality of life for an entire city.
These are not isolated wins. They are evidence of a leader who understands systems, trauma, and sustainability at scale. Dr. Mabry holds a PhD and an MBA, is a certified peace officer, a trauma-informed coach, and a nonprofit CEO. She has lived the strain of high-stakes decision making. She has carried the pressure of payroll, public scrutiny, and community expectation. She knows that leadership can be both a calling and a burden.
That lived experience is the foundation of Rise + Release. It is why CEOs and senior leaders trust her with their most guarded truth. They do not need theory. They need a guide who has walked through fire, studied the science, and built programs that deliver measurable outcomes.
Inside Rise + Release: A Premium Executive Wellness Retreat
Rise + Release is not a spa weekend and it is not a generic corporate wellness workshop. It is an elite executive wellness retreat designed for CEOs, founders, and senior leaders who are dangerously close to the edge of burnout.
The experience integrates several pillars.
Trauma-informed executive coaching. Participants learn how chronic stress reshapes the brain and body. They explore the unspoken costs of leadership and begin to replace survival patterns with sustainable practices. This is not about fixing a performance problem. It is about restoring the human being who carries the responsibility.
Beach therapy and nature immersion. Sessions take place on the shoreline, in movement, and in spaces that invite nervous system regulation. The environment is intentional. It signals to the body that it is safe to exhale. As Dr. Mabry often says, “Rise + Release is where leaders come to exhale.”
Somatic healing practices. Yoga, breathwork, and sound baths are woven into the schedule as tools for real-time regulation. Participants do not simply hear about self-care. They practice it in their own bodies, guided by a trauma-informed lens that honors what stress and success have cost them.
Financial and life restoration frameworks. Because executives carry financial and organizational weight, Rise + Release includes structured time to align money, mission, and mental health. Leaders leave with practical frameworks that protect both their bottom line and their wellbeing.
Each participant leaves with a personalized leadership resilience plan. It includes concrete CEO burnout solutions, daily rituals, and decision filters that support sustainable leadership long after the retreat ends. As one participant shared, “At Rise + Release, you do not just get rest. You get the tools to lead sustainably without losing yourself.”
Why Executive Wellness Is a Strategy, Not a Perk
The World Health Organization now recognizes burnout as a workplace syndrome. For CEOs and executives, the risk is amplified. Constant decision making, unrelenting visibility, and the loneliness of the top role combine to create a perfect storm. Burnout erodes judgment, creativity, and empathy. It quietly undermines the very capacities that organizations depend on.
For companies, the cost is staggering. Burnout fuels turnover, health claims, disengagement, and stalled innovation. As Dr. Mabry notes, “Burnout costs companies billions. Investing in executive wellness is not a luxury. It is a leadership strategy.”
Rise + Release speaks directly to this reality. It is positioned as a premium leadership development retreat for CEOs and senior teams who understand that resilience is now a core competency. For HR leaders and boards, it offers a partner that blends trauma-informed executive coaching with measurable leadership outcomes. Healthier leaders build healthier organizations. That is not a slogan. It is a business case.
Corporate social responsibility teams also find alignment in Dr. Mabry’s work. Her track record in education innovation, workforce pipelines, and community transformation demonstrates that she understands impact at every level. Partnering with The Dr. Annise Mabry Foundation and Rise + Release allows companies to invest in executive wellness while also aligning with broader strategies for equity, sustainability, and social innovation.
Connect with The Dr. Annise Mabry Foundation and Rise + Release Retreats at the official website: Dr. Annise Mabry.
