S01 Ep07: Turning Passion into Worldwide Travel Opportunities with International Retreat Host Patrick Casale

EntrepreneurshipSelf-ImprovementEducationTravel

Jan 30

Written By Melissa Wesner

Some might say that Patrick Casale has created a dream job! Over the past few years, he’s become known for hosting off the beaten path retreats for therapist entrepreneurs that sell out within days! Patrick’s decision to host international retreats has allowed him to pursue his own passions while helping others’ travel dreams come true too! Even though Patrick’s retreats have been incredibly successful, he’s also completely up front about the challenges of doing this work as an AuDHD therapist and entrepreneur.
In this episode, you’ll get to hear:
• What inspired Patrick to start hosting retreats.
• How he came to embrace the motto “Doubt Yourself & Do It Anyway.”
• How Patrick strives to lead with authenticity
• The most transformational aspects of attending retreats.
If you’ve never attended a retreat before, we hope this episode will inspire you to give one a try.
Follow Patrick Casale:
Website: www.allthingspractice.com
Instagram: @allthingsprivatepractice
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/groups/privatepracticebuilding/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT
Free private practice startup guide + narrow down your niche workbook: www.atppod.com/freebies
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (00:01.503)
Hi, welcome back to the Dreaming and Doing podcast. I am super excited to be talking with our guest today. We are talking with Patrick Casale, who is a licensed clinical mental health and addictions therapist in Asheville, North Carolina. He is the owner of All Things Private Practice and Resilient Mind Counseling. He is also an international retreat host, and his motto is, doubt yourself and do it anyway, which I think is...
Absolutely perfect for our show. So welcome, Patrick, and thank you so much for joining me.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (00:36.278)
Thanks for having me, Melissa, I appreciate it.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (00:39.371)
Would you talk a little bit about your motto, doubt yourself and do it anyway, and where that came from?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (00:45.866)
Yeah, so I've been a private practice and group practice therapist for almost seven years now and have been the founder and owner of all things private practice for about four. And I think that the motto comes from just the fact that for so long I kept myself really small and had so much imposter syndrome and self doubt and.
perfectionism and insecurity about my capabilities and whether or not my ideas were actually possible to kind of been brought out into the world. And the more I gained confidence over the last couple of years, the more I started taking more risks, the more I started stepping into things that probably felt pretty uncomfortable at first to realize like the more you do that, the more you grow, the more risks you take, the more you pursue these goals and these passions.
the more likely they are to come to life instead of just like living inside of your head and convincing yourself that they're better suited for somebody else or that you're just not the one who's gonna be able to bring them to life because you don't have skillset A, B, C, D, E.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (01:49.832)
Mmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (01:57.183)
Yeah, I think that so many people are gonna be able to relate to so many pieces of what you just said there. On the podcast, we're gonna be talking about dreaming and doing, it is the start of the new year when we're recording here, so a lot of people are dreaming about the year ahead and what is possible, but I think anytime we are starting to dream about something, sometimes those doubts do pop up. What are some...
ways that you've managed to overcome your self doubts and what are some things that other people might be able to do for themselves if they're experiencing doubt or questioning is this something I am capable of?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (02:36.778)
I believe in imperfect actions, so kind of building the plane as you fly it, so to speak, because otherwise I think it just becomes too overwhelming. The perfectionism takes over and it's like, can I launch my website? It's not perfect yet. Can I put this idea out to the world? I haven't fine tuned everything. So I like to start backwards from a lot of people. And I think that feels counterintuitive when I'm doing coaching or talking to people about their processes. It's like,
No, we don't have to research every single thing under the sun, like we just have to do it. And the reality is, once you put that idea into motion, it's almost like this actual accountability measure where it's like, okay, I put this idea out to the world, the world's still spinning, so my fear isn't as big as it was, but, bless you, the reality is I now have to take action on this thing. And I think that,
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (03:24.779)
Thank you.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (03:30.835)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (03:32.726)
That's how I started my retreat business honestly was like, I was building all things private practice, developing a reputation, my Facebook group, my podcast, et cetera. And things were going well, selling coaching programs and like building reputation. But my goal before all things private practice was to start a travel coaching business, which was like, I'm going to help helpers step away, immerse themselves in culture, go to places that they wouldn't go as tourists, actually help them like work through some of the
stuff that comes up when we step away from our businesses and then COVID happened. So I had to pivot. And in 2021, I just put out on my Facebook page, I was like, hey, if I hosted a retreat in Ireland, who would come? And like 70 people were like, yeah, I'm in. So I'm like, oh, crap. Like, I have to figure this out now. So hyper fixation, go down the rabbit hole of like, find the venue, find the location, book it, figure it out.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (04:20.215)
Mm-hmm
Patrick Casale (He/His) (04:27.01)
But I booked the venue, I booked the dates before having a sales page up. I booked the venue and all the dates before selling a single spot, which may feel counterintuitive to people. But that was the only way I was ever going to work out of the whole, like, if I build it, will they come situation to like, if I build it, they will come situation. So I'm thinking taking action on the idea is so important, even if it's just a baby step, because otherwise it just lives in your head. And.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (04:45.024)
Hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (04:56.714)
Honestly, it becomes too overwhelming to ever pursue.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (05:00.819)
Yeah, I think that that's so important. Because I think a lot of times we think that when we think about people who are pursuing their dreams, and I think some people, Patrick, would say like, Patrick has literally created his dream job, or a job that a lot of people would be like, that is the dream job. And I don't know if it feels that way.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (05:21.198)
I was just having this conversation with someone about how I feel sometimes, like I'm the architect of my own demise. I'm like, I'm gonna be in five countries over the next five months, hosting four different retreats, speaking at two conferences. Like, it feels cool on one hand to say like, this is where my career has taken me because I'll be in Norway, Ireland, Scotland, Spain and Greece up until June. But there is a part of me that is like, wow.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (05:26.911)
Mm-hmm
Patrick Casale (He/His) (05:50.158)
June 3rd can't come soon enough, can't wait for that day for this to be over. And it's not that I don't enjoy it, or that I don't find it unbelievably fulfilling. It's just the reality that like, as an autistic ADHD human, my nervous system, my sensory system gets dysregulated very easily. So traveling, airports, people, hosting, attending to, it's a lot. So I think it's a wonderful thing.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (05:54.736)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (06:15.845)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (06:18.674)
I don't think when I was in grad school in 2015, I ever thought I would be talking about this stuff. I didn't even know it was possible, but I think in our profession, we can't see the forest for the trees a lot of the time because we don't have any business training for the most part. And then we're like, the only thing I can do in this profession is like private practice or community mental health. That's it. There are no other options. And that's just simply not the reality.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (06:32.296)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (06:42.843)
Yeah, well, and I think that that's a really important piece for people as well, because I think sometimes when we see people who are doing the things that we want them to do, or when we think about people, even in history, who are brave or courageous, I think we have this idea that they must have felt brave, or they must have felt courageous, or that it must feel great. And I think the reality is that
we can take action even when we're afraid or even when it's imperfect. And I think that that's what you're saying is sometimes you just need to take the action and taking the action outwardly to other people might look really great and fantastic. But as we're taking it, we have our own internal experiences as we do so.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (07:22.742)
Oh, totally. I mean, you know, social media is one of those things where everything can look really glamorous and easy and it can make you feel like crap if you're like, how come it's not so easy for me? So I always talk about the hard stuff on my social media page because I think it's important to highlight both. But I know for me, like, I do Ireland every year on an annual basis during St. Patrick's Day because I think it's just cool to bring people to like.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (07:29.394)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (07:34.861)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (07:49.906)
an old medieval forgotten about village in the middle of nowhere in Ireland and do all this cool stuff. But what ends up happening is like I always ask people like, is this the first time out of the country? And is this the first time traveling solo and a lot of hands go up and a lot of people are like, that in itself is a risk, right? Like taking that risk, purchasing that spot for X amount of money, getting on that plane, getting the passport, navigating the airports, navigating whatever happens along the way.
Those things, those little moments and decisions are the catalysts to the creation of something bigger. And it allows you to kind of say, I'm more resilient than I thought I was. I'm more courageous than I thought I was. I am willing to take risks. I am willing to invest in my business. I am willing to step out of my comfort zone. Those things, when you're doing that in like a communal setting, because my retreats are kind of like intimate incubators. It's amazing how the energy becomes very contagious.
And I love witnessing that.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (08:50.407)
Yes, and I'm so glad to hear that so many of the people who sign up are first-time travelers or first-time having an international experience I think that that's so exciting And I'm wondering I mean you clearly love travel you wouldn't be doing this if you didn't and you know Like you said your initial intention was to take people to places that were off the beaten path where they wouldn't be able to go Otherwise and have an immersive experience. What is it that you personally have loved about travel or found it’s
found it to be so transformative.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (09:22.958)
I think it's like kind of the excitement slash simultaneous messy factor that comes with traveling of like, it's exciting. We kind of romanticize, right? In our culture, we're like, okay, got to get through the next 60 days and I get to go away. But what I love is new culture, meeting people. I love talking to people. Friends of mine and colleagues of mine will joke like that I talk to everybody when we're traveling and I get to know like
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (09:38.794)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (09:51.378)
people at the bar, people in the restaurants, tour guides, local business owners. That for me feels really powerful because, for example, I keep going back to Ireland, but it's on my mind right now. And year one, I was like looking for a coffee shop in the village we're going to. I'm like, man, we can't just serve like crappy Irish coffee to people every day. That will suck. And I ended up finding this like coffee food truck that had just opened up during COVID. It was like a husband and wife, small business, small town, middle of nowhere.
And I DM them on Instagram and I was like, hey, if I ordered like 20 coffees every day, would you be able to fulfill that? And I could come pick it up and they're like, absolutely. What ended up happening three years later is like they message me, they listen to my podcast, we support each other. And for me, that is the epitome of travel. It's like learning about other people and how they live and eating their food and spending time with them and just experiencing a different way of living so that you can remember this stuff.
when you're having a hard time, when you're struggling, when you're feeling like really burnt out, because these are the things that we can anchor into to be like, oh, that was such a great time. That was such a great connection. Like, I love the fact that I was able to do this. So for me, that's what travel is always all about. And I know just looking around my office, I have so much Anthony Bourdain stuff in here and the way he traveled was really inspiring to me because it was always about like being curious, eating the food, meeting the people.
learning about the customs, learning about the culture. And I think that is the most powerful thing that we can do. And it also makes the world feel a lot more connected.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (11:28.019)
Yeah, and you're making me think about this quote. I don't know if I'll be able to find it, but there was a Mark Twain quote that I loved. And years ago, well, 2018, 2019, I led a workshop in Mexico for mental health providers to do an immersive experience. And there was a quote from Mark Twain that really dumped out at me that says, "'Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, "'and narrow-mindedness.' "'And many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.'"
Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of earth all one's lifetime.
and suggest thinking about the things that we can learn as we travel the culture, the food, the language, the relationships. And I think the thing that I love about what you're doing is one, you are pursuing a dream of your own, right, which is great in and of itself. But as you're doing that, other people get to pursue their dreams, right, pursue their dreams of traveling that they might not do on their own. And even as business owners, I think we can be intentional about
who we support and even hearing you talk about you supporting these local business owners who are selling their coffee, right? That's kind of the beauty about how we can use our power, even in these small ways, to support people.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (12:51.018)
Yeah, absolutely. And that's why all of my events are always gonna be in areas that you wouldn't typically go to or hear about because that's where the real people are. Like I could very easily say, let's have a retreat in Dublin during St. Patrick's Day. That would be a shit show. And also like, it's not real. You're just surrounded by other people who are looking for similar experiences. So I would much rather take people off the beaten path.
share their food, share customs, share conversation, and really get to know people and communities more intimately because then I think we all become invested in one another's successes and we support one another. And I think that's the really powerful piece of all of this.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (13:35.807)
Yeah, now you've led multiple retreats now, and I'm guessing that there are just some things that you see time and time again, in terms of what elements of a retreat or travel have the biggest impact on the people who join your retreats. And I'm wondering what is the transformation that you're seeing or the big takeaways that people are getting by traveling and going on these retreats in community?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (14:00.458)
Yeah, I think community for sure. I mean, that's probably first and foremost, just spending time with, I keep my retreats small, so close to 20 people is about the max. And I allow people's partners to come and they can sit in on the conversations. And what I've found is like, it gives their partners a different perspective about what their day-to-day looks like, how they can help them in their businesses. It's really cool to watch. And what I start to see like as a wallflower because I'm not like someone who's up,
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (14:19.454)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (14:29.986)
doing karaoke when we have karaoke or when we have people like coming doing live music. I'm watching people and I'm watching people like drop in and have fun, like just pure joy and just complete disregard of like stressors in life. And it's really beautiful to witness. So there's this place that we go every year where we find this there's this like hidden locals only Irish beach and our tour guide.
brought us down there year one and had her friend down there with her car making, helping everyone like show them how to make hot whiskeys and hot Irish coffees and stuff like that. And then we're playing this like game on the beach. And I was just watching people like smiling and laughing. And it seemed like one of those moments that people would remember for the rest of their lives. And I think those are the big takeaways because the transformation in itself, yes, it comes from purchasing, it comes to committing.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (15:18.73)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (15:27.07)
It comes from like actually showing up to the event. But I really think the big transformations happen when people are, their guards are down and their vulnerability is kind of melted away and they can just be themselves and they can own it. And like, you'll see people start to name and claim things of like, I really wanna try to create this or I really wanna try to do this, but I'm really afraid or I've tried and I've failed and it makes me feel X, Y, and Z and then in, you know, having that group to kind of.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (15:49.028)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (15:55.002)
offer different perspectives or different ways of supporting. It's really powerful. So I think those are the takeaways because I host so many different types of retreats and like you can come on the retreat and I can teach you how to build retreats. That's one of the ones I do. The magic is not in like going over the manual I created. The magic is more so about like the actual experience and how that can shift and change because then you're around other like-minded people who are like,
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (16:18.487)
Hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (16:24.062)
I am doing this successfully. I tried this, it didn't work, so I tried it a different way. It helps kind of create these different neural pathways where you're like getting your mindset unblocked and unstuck and getting out of that thinking of like this is not possible because clearly these things can be done. So I think it's really about just the experience and I can't really put a price on that. I have to, I struggle with pricing all the time because I'm like.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (16:45.367)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (16:52.782)
price of my events pretty high and they keep selling out, but it must be because the experiences are so transformational. And I think that's really the beauty in all of it.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (17:02.271)
Yeah, and it's funny that you say that I was on another podcast talking about the retreat that I'm hosting in Costa Rica. And that was kind of the conversation that we had is that a lot of times people will sign up for the content, but really it's the community and it's the experience that is most memorable for people that they take away. There's just, you know, the feeling that you get when you're having an amazing...
experience and you're with community and you have that sense of welcome belonging and really living life, you just can't, you know, what else can you get?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (17:34.718)
Yeah, I can't tell you how many events, you know, cause most of our events are like, MBCC approved. So it's always a selling point, right? Like you can come get CEUs while being in Ireland or Spain or wherever, but 90% of people do not care. They're just like, I just want to be here. I just want to be a part of it. So I think you're absolutely right. It's all about the experiences and the conversations and the connections that are made.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (17:50.741)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (18:01.235)
Yeah, and so I'm curious knowing that so many people who sign up for your reduce, this might be their first time. I'm wondering as they're having conversation with you before signing up, what are some of the concerns, reservations, hesitations people have about taking this leap about traveling and how do you see people overcome that?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (18:24.126)
I think there's so many things that can come up. One is safety, right? So a lot of my audience is part of either the BIPOC, LGBTQ or neurodivergent population. So am I gonna be safe? Is it gonna be accessible for me? Is it gonna be affirmative? That's always question number one. Number two then becomes like the logistical side of things like how do I book a ticket to this country? How do I, what type of wall adapters do I need? What type of like?
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (18:31.006)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (18:38.839)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (18:49.638)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (18:54.614)
Do we need money for this? How do we navigate like traveling? So I basically create like country specific cheat sheet, one-on-ones of like, here's how to take out currency. Here's a few words you can learn that will help you along the way. Here's what not to do. Here's like stuff that's customary. Here are links for things that will make your life easier. So I try to give as much information and have as much communication before the event starts. Because what I don't want is travel is already stressful enough as it is.
I don't want people to feel more stressed about it. I just want them to know like I've got you. So anything you need, whether it be how to do A, B, and C, how to get it to A, B, and C, I wanna provide that upfront. I wanna be as communicative as possible. I don't wanna have it feel like someone gets there and I'm like, I haven't heard from you at all. And then also just ensuring a smooth transition, right? So like, I want people to show up to the accommodations and the retreat setting and just feel like they don't have to worry about anything.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (19:25.84)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (19:42.675)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (19:53.602)
We've got your dietary restrictions taken into consideration. We've got your accommodation needs. Like we've made sure you're roomed with whoever like that you've requested. We just wanna make it easy. I don't want there to be any additional stress for people when they arrive. And that's looked like making some mistakes along the way too. Like I typically will rent the venue the day before the event starts now, because you know, 3 p.m., 4 p.m. check-in times, if...
they get to an international destination at 10 a.m. And they're like, I'm jet lagged, I wanna shower, I wanna put my bags down, I wanna relax. I don't want them to have to wait until three or four p.m. in the afternoon to do that. So it's something I've learned along the way so you're not scrambling to like put people's things in their rooms and their name tags and their welcome gifts and all that stuff. So just a lot of tweaking as I go and just figuring out what works and what doesn't and what not to do again.
And then constantly asking for feedback. That's huge. Like getting testimonials, asking people what could be improved, asking people what they would like to see more or less of, and really honoring that. Like we wanna make this as enjoyable and experience as possible.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (21:04.331)
Yeah. Now on one hand, Patrick, you've said that you were the person who will, you know, talk to people anywhere you go. And, you know, on the other hand, you've said, I can also feel a little bit peopled out sometimes. And so you're doing things that involve a lot of people time, hosting a retreat, lots of people. And I imagine that there are other people who...
might say, listen, I've got like a limit to how much people time I can do before I'm exhausted. And maybe that will be too much being on a retreat surrounded by a bunch of people. And I'm wondering how have you navigated that for yourself and how do you help your retreat participants navigate that so they can recharge?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (21:46.254)
Yeah, that's a great question. So, you know, I always start during introductions talking about my own experiences of like, hey, this is who I am. This is how my nervous system is set up. You know, if I have to leave the room, if I have to move around while I'm talking, if I have to like just give you a cue that I don't wanna be social right now, that I need a little bit of time to just collect myself.
and then just name that and give people permission to do the same. We get a lot of neurodivergent folks who come to my retreats and just giving them permission to regulate their sensory systems as best as they can in whichever ways they need to. And I always tell people like, you get to make this experience what you want it to be. If you don't wanna come to anything, that's fine. If you only wanna select a couple of meals, a couple of...
Talks a couple of excursions that you feel like you want to come to and you want to just be by yourself the rest Of the time cool. Just let somebody know so we're not looking for you. So Just making it as comfortable as possible to just allow themselves to give them permission to do what they need because I Have gone to events and conferences and summits where I'm like damn I paid for this I need to go to everything and I don't want to and I also can't like my capacity is not I'm going to allow me to
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (23:05.765)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (23:12.406)
So more often than not, I would pay for the conference and just not go to a single talk. Like, well, this doesn't feel useful. So just trying really hard to give people permission to do what they need to do to individualize their experience. And that seems to work really well and just help people kind of navigate their own sensory and nervous systems too and the ways that they need to show up and the capacity that they have. For me, it's challenging as the host because like,
as a host, you're basically on from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep. So I've had to honor my needs a bit more. We were just in Portugal for a retreat and spent an entire day in Lisbon doing a tour and I knew I was going to be pretty overwhelmed by the end of it. And then we had like a photo, like local music show and dinner at night. And by that time, like, I was just very, very much done. And I just told everyone, I'm like, okay, I'm going to go back to the venue.
I need to in order to show up for y'all tomorrow. Everyone have a good time. Everything's paid for and taken care of. Here's where the transportation picks you up. I will see you tomorrow. And that was something I probably would not have done two years ago, but it made all the difference because then the next day I could get up and be myself and show up for our guests and support them and the things that they need. And they all had a great time. It was totally fine and it worked out really well. So.
I'm trying to model that for people so that they can feel more comfortable giving themselves permission to do the same.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (24:47.479)
Now, you said you started your retreats in 2021. That's when you kind of put those feelers out there like, hey, if I did this, who would be interested? So we're a few years down the road and people have been super receptive to your retreats. What do you think it is about you, your retreats or what you've been doing that has been resonating with people?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (25:16.394)
Mm-hmm. I feel like people always ask me like, what's the recipe for success here? I don't really know how to answer that question other than just be myself. So like, I think that just by being really authentic about both the good and the bad, the struggle areas and the wins, help people also do the same and gives them more comfortability to be like, hey, this is who I am authentically and this is what I need. I try really hard to ensure that these experiences are not cookie cutter.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (25:32.481)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (25:44.224)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (25:45.378)
For example, I rented an entire medieval Italian village for my first international summit that's happening in September. And it's in the middle of nowhere, per usual, which seems to be my MO. But like it's a very local experience and we're gonna incorporate like grape stomping for wine making, Neapolitan pizza competitions, mountain bike tours, all sorts of cool stuff. The theater is from the 1700s and it's super cool where everyone will talk from.
I think it's just about creating value in terms of like, hey, it's not just gonna be come to the Marriott and like spend a couple days in a conference room. Like we're focusing specifically on the experiences and the connections, and we're really working on the mindset stuff because anybody can teach you how to start a private practice, start a podcast, start a coaching program, et cetera. It's not about how to and the logistics. It's more about the mindset stuff of like,
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (26:18.983)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (26:22.839)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (26:37.757)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (26:46.55)
being able to say and accept like this stuff is possible and how do we work through the imposter syndrome, the self doubt, the perfectionism, the insecurities that show up because they will show up and that's inevitable. But I normalize that by talking about it constantly. So I feel very fortunate. I, I launched four retreats, including that summit all at once in May, and they all sold out within seven days.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (26:51.261)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (27:14.59)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (27:15.15)
It's not something I ever thought I could say. And now we've now I've got to look into 2025 for alternative options. So I think it's just about continuing to deliver good products, continuing to create good experiences for people and continuously pivoting and adapting and evolving and kind of doing away with the things that don't work and including the things that do and really doubling down on that.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (27:39.731)
Yes, well, Italy sounds amazing. So if your today self could have a conversation with the younger you in 2021 who is thinking about putting this plan into existence, what would you say to your younger self?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (28:00.91)
Just do it. Not to steal Nike's phrasing, but yeah, just do it. My whole motto that, did the whole doubt yourself do it anyway premise of like, I think we can all remember times that we've tried to do things that were hard or challenging or risky, and we questioned ourselves and our competencies and our capabilities, and then we figured it out and trying to remind ourselves that we are capable and that we are creative and that we have.
the ability to be resilient when things don't go the way that we think they should, to rely on support to, I think, like mentorship, coaching, having a good group of colleagues in your corner, super important, instead of trying to do everything on your own. Because when you're trying to do everything on your own, those, that voice amplifies that insecurity, that imposter syndrome can amplify, especially if you're not around people who are trying to do similar things to show you that it's possible. So,
I think that's been crucial for me. And also just trusting your instincts and your gut. I have to trust my energy all the time. And if I feel really passionate about something or really energized and creative, then I'm in that flow state. I need to pursue it opposed to stepping away from it. So I've started to embrace fear as a positive thing and using fear as a gas pedal, not a brake. And...
if I'm feeling a bit afraid or overwhelmed or insecure or doubting myself to acknowledge that I'm probably on the right path and that I need to continue pursuing that.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (29:35.315)
Wow, definitely a different interpretation of fear, right?
So Patrick, you've already been doing a lot of a really big impressive things. What would you say is your big dream now?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (29:51.562)
disappear from all of it. Now in reality, I think it's to continue this path of doing continuous travel and experiential stuff in terms of the retreats and summits and business building. I'm going to be moving more into helping neurodivergent entrepreneurs opposed to private practice owners. So kind of shifting, but I think it's a good thing and it's I think the entrepreneurial path is an evolving one.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (30:19.991)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (30:20.75)
Um, so I think that's the goal and I'm going to try to start branching out to doing like corporate retreats and business retreats because I love therapists. Thanks for listening y'all, but 99% of my world is full of therapists and I'm ready to kind of shift gears a bit.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (30:42.323)
And I love that honesty, Patrick. Like even what you just said, I think sometimes people might feel like, oh, I can't say that, but I just love that you're like, I'm gonna speak my truth. And I can still love therapists. I feel similar. I love spending time with people in different business communities just to get content from outside of our own community. But know that I appreciate that honesty and authenticity. And I think as you've said, that that's part of what resonates with people.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (30:52.396)
Yeah.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (31:11.551)
And so for anyone who's listening and is thinking like, wow, all of that sounds so great. How can I get in touch with Patrick? How can I follow him? How can I find out what he's doing? How can they get in touch with you?
Patrick Casale (He/His) (31:23.102)
Yeah, so you can go to my website, which is allt that has all of our upcoming retreats and summits and events and all the things. Or you can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, all things private practice. The web domain was already purchased, which was a bummer. But right now we are, it's crazy to say this out loud, but creating retreats into 2025, Ireland 2025 is already sold out.
I've got to come up with some new ideas, which feels like pressure, but that's probably where I operate best in. So that's kind of where we're at.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (32:01.967)
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being with us, Patrick. I think people are really going to resonate with this message and just this important reminder to you that if you're doubting yourself, you can do it anyway. Um, and you can lean into these big dreams.
Patrick Casale (He/His) (32:13.538)
Thanks. Thanks, Melissa. Oh, I didn't even mention my podcast, All Things Private Practice. Yes, that too.