Rachel Bentley: I want to talk just a little bit about,
the idea of building community because I know it's something that you and I are both really passionate about and we definitely try to build community in the events, the retreats that we host do you think, this whole, find your people, build community with like-minded therapist entrepreneurs that are doing similar things, do you think that that's important
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah absolutely. I can say with total certainty that I would not be where I am in my diversification journey if I had not, been in community, gone to retreats myself, been at events with like-minded people, finding the people that really, are your people in each of those events, connecting with them.
Rachel Bentley: Every therapist, entrepreneur, and helper hits a ceiling. What's beyond that ceiling is where things get interesting. Welcome to Diversify Beyond the Chair, the podcast. This podcast is for therapists, entrepreneurs, and helpers that are building income, impact, and freedom beyond one-on-one sessions, or those that are just curious about what that could look like.
I'll take you behind the scenes of my own road beyond the chair, and you'll hear from other fellow travelers about their road. I'm Rachel Bentley, licensed therapist, group practice owner, and consultant. You don't have to do this alone, and I'm rooting for you.
Rachel Bentley: hi, everybody. Thank you for joining us for episode two of Diversify Beyond the Chair, the podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Bentley, and I have a very special guest, my friend and colleague, Melissa Rosinski. Melissa, welcome to the show. Thank you for being here today
Melissa Rosinski: Hey, Rachel. Thank you for having me, and I'm honored to be your first podcast guest
Rachel Bentley: I, I wanna introduce you first, Melissa, and then I'll let you introduce yourself, if that's okay.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: Melissa and I met, in - early 2024 when we were attending a retreat about how to host retreats, we have been friends ever since and have been, um... Really, when we think about diversifying beyond the chair and, like, what that road beyond the chair looks like, we've been on each other's roads with each other., Would you say that's a good way to say it, Melissa?
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: each other and attending at each other's events, speaking at each other's events.
And so it's been really cool to see your road unfold, and having you here today is awesome. So, thanks for being here again. Would you introduce yourself and in terms of where you started, group practice owner, diversifier? Would you give us a little bit of your, of your background
story?
Melissa Rosinski: Sure. So I started out, like a lot of people, working in community mental health. I worked with kids, mostly involved in the foster care system. and that was a real kind of burnout mill.
Rachel Bentley: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Rosinski: from there, I did various things. I worked in, I worked in residential, I worked in IOP, did kind of the tour of all the things, all the places a therapist can work, and finally ended up in solo group practice.
And then, from there, I noticed that I was feeling really lonely, really disconnected. and so I went back to work at the university. Well, I went to work at the university. and I was working with college students. COVID hit, as soon as I started working there, and everything went virtual. And at that point, I was finding myself working with all of these students who were really, like, my ideal clients, and having to just refer them out.
That was kind of my role, right? If the, if the student has trauma, refer them out. and I stopped and said, "What am I doing here? This doesn't make any sense." So at that point, I built my group practice, and I think that's the story from... You know, a lot of group practices came out of the COVID era.
Rachel Bentley: Yes, yes
Melissa Rosinski: so yeah, I built slowly from there, brought on a couple, contract, therapists, and then built into a full W2 practice.
-- We're here in Tucson, Arizona. We specialize in working with the LGBTQ population as well as young adults. and yeah, I really love that work. and then from there, you know, my dream was always to somehow incorporate travel and experiences with my, my therapy skills. and so after that retreat that we both attended, I know both of us were kind of on this parallel process of, building our own retreats and experiences.
So that was 2024.
Rachel Bentley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And so that was like kind of where road beyond the chairs, I like to say, started. Like, going to that event and starting to think about do I wanna build beyond , my one-on-one therapy work, my group practice,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm
Rachel Bentley: of when it started it sounds like
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, I think the, the idea was there for a long time, and it took like being in a room with other people who were also had kind of a shared goal, like really made it feel possible
Rachel Bentley: Yes, yes. amazing. And, and, and we'll talk about what you've done since then. ... I know you said you had the idea, right? as you started, like, sort of implementing this idea of building retreats like you have, which we'll learn more about in a moment, what made you want to sort of do something more or do something beyond the, the group practice, the clinical
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: what motivated you to want to do more?
Melissa Rosinski: I think there were several different pieces to that.
Rachel Bentley: Mhm
Melissa Rosinski: Having the room, the resources, the time, the freedom to be able to travel and travel with my family is really important to me.
and being a group practice owner is a lot. it's a lot just kind of in the... Yeah, it can be.
Rachel Bentley: it can
Melissa Rosinski: so I think the road there was like, you know, getting to a place where the group practice was stable enough that it could kind of support me in building in a little bit more freedom in my life. the other piece is , I really enjoy experiential nature-based somatic work, and that has not been the easiest thing to integrate as far as, like, clinical work or within my role as a therapist or group practice owner.
So this has been sort of my avenue to engage with my passions and my creative side
Rachel Bentley: Yes, yes. Which can be just when we have the freedom and autonomy to do that, that's an amazing, amazing thing. And so can you tell our listeners more about what you created? We- we've given a little preview of retreats, right? But can you
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: the audience what you created on that road?
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah.
Rachel Bentley: Yeah
Melissa Rosinski: So, my first retreat, and this is my annual retreat, it's called Nature Ritual and Renewal. it takes place in Costa Rica. So right after we were in, Asheville for that retreat builders retreat, I headed out that summer and did some retreat scouting, and found a place that really inspired me, and decided this is gonna be the place.
So the following year, 2025, I hosted my first international retreat in Costa Rica, and I hosted it again last year, and it was bigger and better the second time around, and I've decided to keep it as kind of a flagship, retreat. so I host that every July, and then this year my goal is to do three retreats.
I have two planned already. So this year I've added in Portugal in May for 2027
Rachel Bentley: That's exciting.
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, I'm really excited about it
Rachel Bentley: Yes, and, what made you want to do more than one retreat and because your retreats are international, and
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: made you decide after doing Costa Rica a couple of times, deciding you love that, deciding you wanna keep doing that as like an annual thing, what made you decide to expand even beyond that?
Melissa Rosinski: Well, I mean, I, really love hosting retreats, so it's kind of a matter of if I'm really gonna lean into my passion. You know, there's, there's a couple pieces to it because it's also a business, right? So this is a whole second business that I have.
Rachel Bentley: Yes
Melissa Rosinski: part of it is nurturing my passion, and part of it is nurturing that business and growing it into something that is sustainable and healthy and, you know, expanding was just kind of the natural next step there
Rachel Bentley: Yes, and that makes so much sense, and especially when we think about for ourselves and for people that are listening, this idea of doing a lot of one-on-one work over time in the various settings and systems like you described, and it's been my experience too. And then owning our own practices and still continuing to do some clinical work with some ceilings, like you talked about.
I couldn't quite incorporate everything I wanted to in that traditional therapy hour billing insurance, right?
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: what more do I want to do? then having the freedom and autonomy with, the revenue that the group practice makes to be able to perhaps see less of your own clients, I'm assuming, right?
Like making that shift, then building this retreat business and growing it, which gives you even more opportunity perhaps to on what you're really passionate about. And then decide like how much one-on-one work or how much administrative running of the group do I still want to do,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: re- business probably gives more opportunity, I think, to have more choice in all of that.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: Is, is what I'm thinking
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, it does. And it's like when you're still-- when you have two businesses and you're still kind of building both,
Rachel Bentley: Yes
Melissa Rosinski: lot, right? Sometimes it doesn't really feel like I have a lot of freedom because I'm in the, you know, kind of put my head down and really build this thing phase
Rachel Bentley: Yes. And that, is a
good segue to, what's hard about this,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: us that nice segue because it's one thing to say, I built these two businesses. in some ways I'm sure you're still trying to grow and expand in both businesses , right?
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm
Rachel Bentley: that's a lot. Like, that's a lot on your plate, a lot to manage, a lot to navigate. when people hear stories like ours or stories of guests in the future on the show, know that it isn't all roses, know that it isn't all easy, there is this period of time in business building where we... gonna have to work a lot, and we're gonna have to juggle a lot to actually make all of this happen, right?
And so we
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: that balance of am I, like, working myself to the bone here? Do I have, still have balance, personal life, family life balance? How do I find all of that? Do you
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: that's hard to find sometimes when we're sort of in these business building modes, that balance for ourselves?
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, for sure. And I think,
Rachel Bentley: Yeah
Melissa Rosinski: I think that's just one of the realities of being an entrepreneur, right? There's gonna be seasons where it's gonna be really hard, and it is a lot of work.
Rachel Bentley: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Rosinski: for me, I think what balances that is the things that I'm building I feel really passionate about. and so it doesn't always feel like work when I'm sitting there planning a retreat or I'm looking at venues or I'm, you know, writing my CE workshops.
Like, that stuff actually feels energizing and exciting and kind of fills my cup
Rachel Bentley: Yes, I love that you said that because I think if we notice our own,, systems and our own energy, what do we really look forward to or excited to, do on a work
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: and it might be clinical work, but it may also be like you said, a venue or thinking about curriculum or thinking about how am I gonna get this out into the world.
That may be more exciting to us. I know that that is... I mean, even though I do still love my clinical work, the diversification stuff, that road beyond the chair as we're saying, that stuff is really exciting for me too. It sounds like it is for you as well,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: even though it's a lot of work.
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah.
Rachel Bentley: Yes. Yes. .. was there a moment in maybe either business where you were like, I'm done. , I wanna walk away." We, we might call this, a roadblock, a detour. I don't know if I really wanna do this anymore, or I want to abandon this idea.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: is there a moment you can think of where you experienced that?
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah. I mean, I think it's a pretty common feeling among group practice owners to from time to time be like, "What? What did I get myself into? Why am I doing this?" it's a lot. It can be a lot to manage. So I've definitely had those thoughts along the way. sometimes it... Sometimes all the work you're putting into it when it's just sort of the day-to-day, like logistics, insurance, billing, those kind of things that stuff can really, really wear on me.
Rachel Bentley: Yes, the grind. Yeah.
Melissa Rosinski: the grind, yes. and then there's definitely been times like I'm thinking about not every retreat idea has worked out. So sometimes I'll get really excited about a place, really feel like I wanna bring people here. I have all these ideas for all the cool things that we will do, and then it just doesn't, it doesn't flow.
It doesn't, doesn't feel right. So I had one of those earlier this year. That was a couple months of research that I finally just said, "Nope, not gonna move forward."
Rachel Bentley: Yes, and I know sometimes that can be hard, 'cause it's like, "But I have this idea. I'm passionate about it.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: but all the research, including, crunching of the numbers, for example, like the budget, our ideas really can't come to fruition, 'cause they're just not
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: But we may have already invested a lot of time, money, energy, any of those things.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: any of those things may be at play. So sometimes that can be tough, right, to give up on the idea after we realize it's not gonna work out.
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, there can be some grief there, honestly.
Rachel Bentley: Yes
Melissa Rosinski: already kind of pictured yourself, you know, hosting that experience or fallen in love with some of, the ideas that you've had about how it was going to be
Rachel Bentley: Yes. No, that's really real to name because . i know I always hate to admit this, but even as a therapist, and in building two businesses myself, it's, it's a lot of trial and error.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm
Rachel Bentley: Sometimes we just don't know until we start into the research or maybe we even experience it and then we say, a minute, this isn't gonna work out," or, "I can't do this again 'cause it didn't work out the first time." And there is grief in that, I think.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: Yeah. I'm glad that you named that, 'cause I don't think we
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah
Rachel Bentley: about it that way. Yeah.
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, I think there can also be like, it could be discouraging if you're not looking at it as part of the normal trial and error process of entrepreneurship, right? It can feel like a failure or setback where had I actually hosted that retreat, it wouldn't have gone well, right? And that would have been the real setback
Rachel Bentley: Yeah, it's like forcing something that we know, we just have the sense. Like it might be a sense and it might just be we did real research on it, and we know
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: but somehow we force it to work anyway, and then it doesn't work.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: I think about, it reminds me of, in our group practice when we think about our hiring practices, and any time we have hired someone that It could work out, but there's a couple little red flags, but there's lots of green flags, right?
It's sort of like we're sitting on a fence on a decision, but we know, we sense in our heart it's not gonna work out., That's not how we wanna make decisions for our business,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: we're, if
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: it isn't gonna work, we shouldn't force it.
Melissa Rosinski: Yes.
Rachel Bentley: Yeah, and that's like it's-
it before, and it didn't work
Melissa Rosinski: yeah I think it's part of like learning and maturing as an entrepreneur or a business owner is to, I guess, learning to trust that instinct too that just says, "This is not quite right."
Rachel Bentley: Yes. Well as you've been building the retreat business or building your road beyond the chair, is there anything, that you wish you would've done differently terms of,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: are today?
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, that's a good question. Probably a lot of things. you know, I talk about my first retreat, and , I don't have any, like, necessarily, like, regrets about it,
Rachel Bentley: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Rosinski: did go into that sort of with the mindset of like, I'm just gonna give myself permission to host it, and if I lose money, I lose money.
It's a learning experience.
Rachel Bentley: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Rosinski: that that mindset was maybe not the right mindset to go into that first retreat with, right? but some of the things that I could have done differently that would have, maybe supported that in being more of a success, at least financially, would have been really understanding marketing a little bit better, understanding budgeting, right?
Again, it was one of those trial and error things where
Rachel Bentley: Yes
Melissa Rosinski: of tried to figure it out myself. I didn't ask for help
Rachel Bentley: Yes, and I think that, what comes up for me, what I always think about when I look back on everything that I've done, successful or not successful, and that's subjective, trying something new, putting yourself out there. For me, I always think, "This probably isn't gonna succeed, and no one is gonna buy a ticket to this event or this retreat anyway."
And so I'm going into it with that mindset. That self-doubt is sort of taking the lead in my system. And so if that self-doubt, if you walk into it thinking it's gonna be successful, it doesn't help you, like you said, to zoom out, look at big picture. Look at, hey, I'm an entrepreneur, we automatically take risks and when we own our own businesses, anything that we do is trial and error.
Any data we get is good data 'cause it teaches us
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah.
Rachel Bentley: next. Can't have that mindset when that self-doubt is sort of in the lead.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: What comes up for me when you say that, and every time this happens and I'm doing something new and it is successful, the next thing that I wanna do, I try to remind my self-doubting part about that.
Like, there's a lot of evidence that we probably can do this well.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm
Rachel Bentley: expand, let's get clear, let's zoom out, let's trial and error, let's learn whatever we can and not, have it be a reflection on us if it's not successful. So
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: came up when you told your story, and I'm not saying that's exactly what's coming up for you, but, that's something for us to pay attention to.
And, and like you said, in that first Costa Rica retreat, there was something there for you where you were like, "I'm not gonna worry about the marketing. I'm not gonna worry about the budget. I'm just gonna try to put something out there that I'm passionate about." And
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: we're not saying that was wrong, quote, unquote, but maybe you wish you went into that first one with a different mindset?
Would that be fair to say?
Yeah. Yeah.. It's like you can't know what you didn't know. You know what I mean? Like, I couldn't have known. But, was it maybe a little naive to just think if I put it out there you know, if I build it, they will come? Yeah, probably. And
Melissa Rosinski: and it was,
Rachel Bentley: And some people did.
Melissa Rosinski: people did come. Yeah, absolutely. People I didn't even know found that retreat and came, and it was, it was still amazing.
Again, like finances are sort of one metric that I look at when I'm looking at is something successful or do I wanna continue with it? Ultimately, it needs to be profitable for me to continue to do it. but there's also, you know, especially with events, it's about having people come to your event and then, you know, you get the feedback.
They're also spreading the word about the time that they had, word of mouth kind of referrals start to build. You get testimonials, right? There's, there's other things happening there
Rachel Bentley: Yes, and like, all of it has to unfold that first time, I think, for us to really, take in. Hopefully we can take it in. Hopefully not going, "Oh, well, we didn't think enough about marketing, or about budgeting, or, we failed."
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: to be, again, to be able to zoom out and go, "Okay, wait, I did learn some things, and I wanna do this again, and I know how I would do it differently," I mean, that's really the perspective of, like, continuing to grow in our diversification, like, efforts. our row beyond that chair, right?
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah.
Rachel Bentley: That's probably a key part. And when we think about, we've really already talked about this quite a bit, like, idea of, like, the gas and the brakes, like, in our system, right? So we'll have parts that are like, "Stop. Don't go there. Don't move forward. around. Leave." And then we're gonna have the parts that are like, "Have this idea. I'm really passionate. Let's go, let's go, let's go." So we have the stop, and we have, the go and I think we both described some of our stop and go already. In just hearing your story, had this idea about Costa Rica.
You built the thing. You, in that first year, there were things that you didn't think about that you wish you would have so there was a stop of like, "Wait, did I screw this up? Did I fail? Was the money where it was supposed to be?" Some of that came up, so there was a break, but then there was the gas again.
Like, "No,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: gonna do this. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm gonna do this, and there are a few things that I would tweak."
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah.
Rachel Bentley: Yeah. Do you feel like I captured that right
Melissa Rosinski: yeah.
Rachel Bentley: yeah,
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, because then I reflected on what went well and what didn't go well, and then I was able to seek out the help, the coaching, the, right, the information that I needed to make it more successful the next time around
Rachel Bentley: was there ever a moment where you were like, "I kinda screwed this up. I don't know if I wanna do it again"? Did that ever come up, even if it were a quieter voice?
Melissa Rosinski: I think there's like fear voice that's like really about money,
Rachel Bentley: Yeah.
Melissa Rosinski: like taking a financial risk can feel really scary. So yeah, I think it's hard to justify I did all of this work and ended up not making a profit off of it, and what happens if I do that again next year?
Rachel Bentley: Yeah, so maybe there was just this brief hesitation of, should we?
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: you said, the gas was like, "No, hang on. I'm gonna hire a coach. going to learn about the things I didn't do last time that I probably need to do." Think about profitability, for example, right?
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: I've gotta turn a corner and incorporate these things in for next time. going back to the idea of asking for help, you did ask for help. You asked for help from someone that did know some of the things you didn't know, which I've done so many times,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm
Rachel Bentley: so many consultants and coaches knew more than me or were further ahead of me on the road. how did it feel to ask for help?
Melissa Rosinski: empowering.
Rachel Bentley: Yeah.
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah. It felt, hmm, I mean, I don't have any trouble asking for help or hiring a coach. To me, it actually, especially as an entrepreneur, makes more sense
Rachel Bentley: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Rosinski: work with somebody who's already been there, and you can eliminate some of that trial and error that is unnecessary. that's gonna be beneficial for you financially, for you just as far as like the workload.
Yeah. We need to be using the resources that we have
Rachel Bentley: Yes absolutely. I agree and I know that we both, do our own coaching or consulting, and helping people. And so we're not just saying hire a coach or consultant 'cause we are one.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: because we've benefited and because our time is valuable, too. And I know there are times when we're trying to implement a new business idea that we don't have a lot of extra funds or resources to hire a coach. But, time is of value. And so if we can get some of that tangible stuff gives us our return on investment later,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: I want to talk just a little bit about,
the idea of building community because I know it's something that you and I are both really passionate about, and we definitely try to build community in the events, the retreats that we host. And, we were able to build community with each other, and we've met some other cool people, on our road as we've attended other people's events and our own events, do you think, this whole, find your people, build community with like-minded therapist entrepreneurs that are doing similar things, do you think that that's important?
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, absolutely. I can say with total certainty that I would not be where I am in my diversification journey if I had not, been in community, gone to retreats myself, been at events with like-minded people, and not just being there with them, but, finding the people that really, are your people in each of those events, connecting with them.
yeah, I've built so many friendships through attending other people's events and then hosting too, right? Some of the people who've come to my retreats are now, you know, I would consider them, to be friends.
Rachel Bentley: Yes. Just to have other people that, that get it. we are, you know, therapists that weren't trained to be business owners, but then became business owners, and then had to figure out all the business stuff, right?
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: I think the helpers and healers as you like to say too, the people that are in service to others, that are helpers, that are also entrepreneurs, sort of a unique thing,
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah.
Rachel Bentley: I don't know that we can go out just in our communities and find a whole lot of other folks that are in sort of that boat,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: that have the kind of education and training that we do that then became a business owner. So it's just, it's refreshing,
Melissa Rosinski: Oh yeah.
Rachel Bentley: kind of community. you know, don't get me wrong, not everyone that we meet are folks we wanna build community with, but been a huge, thing for me as well
just being able to feel as isolated and alone.
Melissa Rosinski: Yes
so I've truly appreciated that myself, and it sounds like you have too. Yeah. On that same note, it's like as therapists, there's a lot of messaging that we've received about how we should be in business, right? Like there's sort of this expectation of staying small and, not making a lot of profit. And so to be able to connect with other people who are, you know, there are ways that we can be ethical therapists and business owners and dream big and want to make money and have that freedom.
Rachel Bentley: Yes,
Melissa Rosinski: It's like a mindset shift that is hard to make on your own.
Rachel Bentley: yes, and we deserve that as much as
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: Other business owner but, you're right, like the messaging that we receive can be very opposite
Melissa Rosinski: Yes
Rachel Bentley: Hopefully we can help some people shift that mindset a little bit as they listen to this episode.
And wanted to ask
you, if someone who's listening wanted to just take one step toward, their road beyond the chair, or maybe they're already on the road, maybe they already have an idea, they're just coming up with an idea. Maybe they've already tried an idea. but is there one tip or trick or advice that you could give? Just one little thing that they could do to move down their road
Melissa Rosinski: maybe looking at who is out there doing something similar to what you're doing, right? Maybe reach out, maybe connect with them, maybe ask them, "How did you do this thing?" Right? Looking for your community, finding someone who maybe has a similar passion.
If you don't have anyone you know of who's doing what you want to be doing or exactly what you're doing, you can also maybe just spend some time like, I mean, the thing that comes to mind for me is spending some time nurturing your passions
so really getting familiar with maybe you have a lot of ideas, but how do you take some time to get quiet and sit with where your gut is leading you, or maybe spending some time doing something. So my thing is somatic nature-based work. Maybe locally find some community who enjoys getting out into nature.
spend some time doing the thing in real life that you're kind of envisioning yourself doing, as an entrepreneur.
Rachel Bentley: I love that idea, and I think that what you said about, yes, go experience it, and it may inspire you. It may open something up. It may give you more clarity about what you might wanna do next. You know, some folks listening they may be similar to us where we have a lot of ideas.
We can't implement all of our ideas 'cause we have a lot. and so focus, trying to, like, narrow down and focus on, what exactly do I wanna do when might be difficult. I bet there are also people listening that they're just starting to think about this whole idea of diversification, and maybe they don't have a lot of ideas, or maybe their, their parts or their system won't even allow them to even get curious or to
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: an idea or a dream. So there may be some interference running right there for people. And so to your point, if you know you have some passion and some curiosity about doing certain things, just go out and do them, maybe that opens up some of this interference. Maybe that opens the system up a little bit to some new ideas because
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: new ideas mean vulnerability and change, and that can lead to feeling like a failure and feeling rejected.
And there's so many things that, being on a new horizon or a new road may bring.
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah.
And a, a challenge for me is I have so many ideas like, I could run with any of those ideas any given day. So being able to slow down a little bit. You know, sometimes it's wise to use the brakes and just sit with them for a while, see what sticks, see what really feels aligned
Rachel Bentley: Absolutely. We don't have to move super quickly, but I think it's the curiosity around, know, what even comes up for us, for our listeners we think about diversification, when we think about the road, when we think about ideas, what do we even notice happening when the subject even gets brought up?
Because, diversifying is being brought up often now for several reasons, we hear a lot of people talking about, I created a course," or, "I'm hosting an event," or, "I'm doing intensives." Or, I mean, there's so many different ways and forms, and there's a lot of info out there where people are talking about it. but that may cause us to have a ton of ideas, or it may cause us to just completely shut down it
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: on the person's system. So just getting curious about that for ourselves. And I'm with you with having all the ideas, and why I have the big idea doc. And so when the ideas come, I just dump them into the doc that I don't forget them.
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, that's a great idea
Rachel Bentley: I will never go back to because I don't have the time or capacity to,
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: to like really look at what we're drawn to I think is what you're saying too about go out and experience the thing you might wanna do.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: That's why you and I have went to a lot of our own retreats of other people, conferences, summits
Melissa Rosinski: yep
Rachel Bentley: see what we like or what we resonate with.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm
Rachel Bentley: part of the market research in hosting events, isn't it?
Melissa Rosinski: For sure. I think we can learn to be good therapists by doing our own therapy seeing how someone else does it who maybe has more experience. Same thing with events or retreats how do you know how to host something unless you have done that yourself? and you get information there
like a lot of it is stuff that I wouldn't personally do in my own event, and that's good information too
Rachel Bentley: It is. No, it really is. And I think for me, I've found since I started really hosting my own stuff, when I go to other events, I'm kind of like, "Wait, I want to answer that question," or, "Wait, I can help support with that." I want to also thank you for sharing your tips. I know they're gonna be helpful
for folks. And I also just want, to give you the opportunity to share you have coming up for 2027, 'cause you have some exciting stuff. You have Costa Rica coming up again, and you also have a
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: in Portugal. So could you share with the audience what you have coming up, and also how to get in contact with you and find out more about your events?
Melissa Rosinski: Sure. You can find me on Instagram. My handle is wildhavennature. So don't forget the second N, wildhavennature, all one word. and there's actually a freebie there too, so if you're interested in learning more about, somatic nature-based work, there's a kind of simple guide there. It's called Nature as Co-Therapist.
I am hosting in Portugal, so that's gonna be May 17th to 23rd. we will be bringing a small group. this has actually been inspired by other events I've gone to. I always seem to find like kind of the witchy nature, right? Let's go get a tarot reading together kind of folks.
and I was thinking a lot about like what would happen if we brought a whole group of them together and that was the retreat, and we really got to be ourselves, talk about our ideas, explore some of those maybe beyond the edges of traditional psychotherapy. So I'm really excited about that one.
and then Costa Rica this year. so I change it up a little bit every year. so I'm working on a new cur- curriculum for this year. But Costa Rica is a really lovely event for helpers and healers to come and actually experience, deep rest, nature immersion. we go up in the mountains on a ranch with a herd of rescue horses, and the horses are kind of integrated into everything we do.
It's not about riding. Rachel, you were there last year.
Rachel Bentley: Yes, it was a wonderful experience
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, and the horses make it so special. So even if you're not a horse person, we're not gonna be riding horses, but they're there to kind of support our container and our transformation. so yeah, that one is July 11th through the 16th, of 2027.
That one also has an optional beach weekend add-on, which is really fun. gives us kind of some time to reintegrate into the real world after being out in nature for a week. yeah, and then I'm working on possibly something else for 2027. but I'll be announcing that when I'm ready
Rachel Bentley: Well, that sounds exciting. That's a preview. So if people wanna follow you on Instagram, @wildhavennature, learn more when you release that third idea, if you do in
Melissa Rosinski: If I do,
Rachel Bentley: or
Melissa Rosinski: we'll see.
Rachel Bentley: And I just want to say, that I had the opportunity to go to Costa Rica, and I'm a person that always feel a little bit hesitant about traveling outside the country, which feels ironic to say right now.
But, just you hosting Costa Rica me to going there and being able to experience what you talk so much about, the, the nature elements, being, in somewhere completely new, being immersed in all the beauty, right, of that countryside. And so I can't say enough about, for folks that are considering, if you ever wanted to visit Costa Rica, if you love being in nature, if you really want an experience that's gonna make a profound impact, consider this retreat. I say it all the time, but I'm not gonna promote things I don't believe in or haven't experienced myself. And, Knowing others that went as well and how much they enjoyed it, and obviously I know you have the testimonials those speak for themselves. But I just wanted to give you props because it was a truly amazing event, so I
Melissa Rosinski: Thank you.
Rachel Bentley: to say that.
Yes, you're so welcome.
Melissa Rosinski: It was amazing for me too.
Rachel Bentley: Yes. We did a lot of really cool things, and like you said, we also know, in growing an event retreat and event hosting business, we learn a lot every year. We learn a lot from what happens, how it unfolds, the feedback that we get, and I think our goal is always, even though it's a great event, l- like you said, from year one to two and beyond, every year, we try to do it even better.
And we want
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: have a great experience. congratulations, by the way.
Melissa Rosinski: Thank you.
Rachel Bentley: Yes.
Melissa Rosinski: you
Rachel Bentley: just seeing your dreams come true and seeing it all unfold for you has been, been really awesome. So
Melissa Rosinski: I also wanna mention that I'm really excited that you're gonna be speaking at my Portugal retreat
Rachel Bentley: Yeah. So I'm excited about that too. So Melissa's getting me to go international again next year. So yes, I'll be at the Portugal retreat as well, and We'll bring IFS into the room and really talk about, what happens for us when we think about expansion, and think in Portugal it's type of expansion.
It could be, I wanna learn, like, a new therapy modality, or maybe I wanna do therapy in a different way. I like to throw out the whole woo-woo thing because, being an IFS therapist, many people have called me woo-woo. too woo-woo. That's too untraditional," you should be doing CBT and using the workbook and so in Portugal, I think it could be anything you wanna do outside of the quote-unquote norm box that we learn about in grad school or learn about in some of our clinical training, and it could mean retreat hosting, it could mean the road beyond the chair. but I think it could, it could mean exploring anything outside of that norm box.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: is that sort of how you see it too?
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah, definitely.
Rachel Bentley: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Rosinski: and it could be in your personal life too so I'm hoping to just create the container and you know, we have the resources, we'll be working with the elements, to do some kind of deeper exploration, but space for us to come back to really, like, who we are as people outside of our therapist identity,
Rachel Bentley: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Rosinski: And what are the things we're passionate about? What are the things that really feel aligned for us, and how do we integrate those into our work and our life?
Rachel Bentley: And I think creating space for people to do that type of exploration is so profound and so impactful we often don't have that in our day-to-day. We're just,
Melissa Rosinski: Yes
Rachel Bentley: through, we're moving
Melissa Rosinski: Yes
Rachel Bentley: we're putting out fires and we don't, often have time and space to do that.
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: yeah, I think I'm excited to be there. I'm excited to go somewhere new again, and I'm
Melissa Rosinski: Mm-hmm.
Rachel Bentley: To speak there, so thank you for inviting me.
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah. Thank you for coming
Rachel Bentley: of course. If people wanna get ahold of you, is Instagram the best way, or is there
Melissa Rosinski: you can,
Rachel Bentley: wanna share?
Melissa Rosinski: Yeah you can definitely reach out on Instagram, my website wildhavennature.com.
Rachel Bentley: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Rosinski: there's a contact form there. you can email me, [email protected]. any of those ways work. And I forgot to mention, I also do consulting, so if anyone is interested in, exploring whether you're at the very beginning of hosting events and retreats, or if you're actively working on something, if you have questions or need perspective or logistics, I do offer a couple different coaching options
Rachel Bentley: Okay, awesome. Is that also at your website, people
Melissa Rosinski: Yes, that's on the website. Mm-hmm
Rachel Bentley: awesome.
Melissa, I wanna thank you for coming. It's been a pleasure to have you as our first, guest in episode two of the podcast. I also wanna remind folks that, a summary of what we talked about will be in our show notes.
And if you want to conceptualize what I mean by the road beyond the chair, you can go to our website, nextlevelprivatepractice.com/podcast, and anything we talk about on the podcast will be on that page Melissa, again, thank you so much for coming, and I hope that, you'll consider coming on for a future episode
Melissa Rosinski: I would love to
Rachel Bentley: as both of our roads continue to unfold. Yes, so
Melissa Rosinski: I would love to. Thank you.
Rachel Bentley: Thank you so much for joining us today. If something in this episode stirred something up for you, just notice it. All of your parts are welcome here. To hear more about our services and to access free resources, visit us at nextlevelprivatepractice.com/podcast. And if this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend who may also benefit or who may be dreaming about what's next.
As always, I'm rooting for you. I'll see you next time on the road
