Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Desposito. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Looking back on your career, have you ever worked with a great leader or boss? We’d love to hear about the experience and what you think made them such a great leader.
The best boss I ever had was case coordinator Alex Dailey, when I worked as a case worker at a mental health agency serving at-risk youth with mental and emotional disorders. Alex demonstrated authentic leadership by prioritizing the well-being of her employees just as much as the clients we served, even when it meant challenging upper management on issues like productivity. I remember when our organization absorbed another agency’s program, and Alex dedicated an entire day—what we jokingly called “Armageddon Day”—to keeping the team in-house to create a plan of action. She provided us with lists of new clients, food, snacks, and worked tirelessly alongside us to navigate the chaos. No matter how tough it got, Alex always acknowledged our efforts, offering a simple but meaningful “good job” and stepped in when clients were understandably upset. At the end of the day, she took the whole team out to dinner to show her gratitude.
What Alex taught me is that authentic leadership is about showing up, doing the hard work with your team, and building trust through action. The Wellife is grounded in a similar vision as we often meet to discuss business growth not just with our supervisees, but other business minded clinicians in the area. This is done to help explore ideas and identify what works and what does not in the current market. It can be easy to operate from a scarcity mindset and assume competition as to who has the better therapy practice or professional coaching role. However, post-pandemic we have learned from our community and state that there is such a high need for help that refocusing our perspective towards a growth mindset of collaboration can improve wellness for everyone. Authentic leadership is best seen creating collaborative environments for success on goals. I want people to succeed in their field and I recognize that helping one person, helps us all.
Michael, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Ever since I was young, I always believed I would help people in some way, but I did not know yet how. Growing up as an only child of a divorced family, I often found solace with talking to the adults I would interact with who would watch me. Due to my family being in the medical profession, it was instilled in me that helping others in a way that relieved pain was a noble way to provide hope in the world. As I attended high school with a strong mission of community engagement, I was exposed to new perspectives and opportunities that further instilled in me a sense of valuing my community.
During my college years, I experienced the defining moment that set my career path, even though I had not always planned to work in mental health. I originally intended to enter the medical field, inspired by a family history of heart disease and a desire to help people through physical health crises. Mental health was something I barely understood, only hearing about “bedside manner” as a courtesy rather than a critical form of support. Everything changed when I received a phone call that my mother had suffered a major mental health episode. I remember being on the phone speechless, unable to process how just days earlier she had seemed fine. The overwhelming experience of coming home to a “new normal” and unfamiliar medical jargon left me feeling isolated and helpless. That spring, I took an elective psychology class where I learned about the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and I attended a family support group as the youngest person in the room. When I explained my situation, the group fell silent until the facilitator said, “let this place be a safe landing, so no one has to suffer alone.” To this day, I remember this advice and seek to provide clients these similar words during their journey towards health and wellness.
The Wellife is a play on words as many times people seek therapy to feel better but their life may never improve even when mental health symptoms resolve. This led to the name creation as my co-owner and I would often ask clients “What makes you have a Well Life?” The name sort of got created in how often people would respond to that question in a different way than if just asked about their symptoms. This led to the slogan “wellness in a different way” as it was a practical outgrowth from client experiences.
The Wellife hosts several approaches to helping. Our focus started with professional counseling and therapy as the original business model focused on what my partner and I do as a licensed profession. As we began to explore wellness in a more holistic way, we also paired certified professional coaching for clients who may not meet criteria for mental health diagnosis and treatment but were seeking evidence-based ways of exploring fulfillment, balance, and new perspectives to improve their life satisfaction and flourishing in the world. Over time it also became clear that our counseling field saw a massive shift in how counseling and therapy was being performed leading to my partner and I developing consultation packages for counselors in the field also seeking to improve the lives of their community but perhaps lacked business knowledge, specialized clinical skills, or a vision for their goals. As of writing this article, the Wellife can state that we have helped successful launch 13 new businesses within the county we live in and we consult with clinicians across the state to improve their business and outcomes.
While I am proud to discuss The Wellife as a business that promotes optimal mental health and wellness, we also seek to build a “well” community. I am most proud to have a business that seeks to empower not just clients, but those who work out of our collaborative space have the tools necessary and support to launch their own business well. This is done by trying to harness a form of mutuality like a coral reef where the community supports each other as they live and grow. Whether that is collaborative events, business consultation, or professional coaching, the goal is for everyone to have an ability to build a Wellife and share this experience with others.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn in my field is that you do not have to exhaust yourself to be good in your role. One of the common myths in the field of therapy is that you must do everything for everyone and minimize your needs for the greater good. I can recall early in my career during the 2020 pandemic I was working at a mental health practice that had a high productivity expectation, or seeing more clients to justify my pay. I can remember often reading 2-3 clinical textbooks at a time trying to feel “ahead” of my clients who were highly dysregulated and in emotional pain from the pandemic but slowly burning out trying to feel competent and adequate in my role. I remember a mentor I hired at the time, another form of trying to be more than I was, to improve in a specific type of therapy paused our consultation and stated “Mike your work will always be there in life but your health and family shouldn’t be neglected for it.” This was an impactful message for me as my desire to feel adequate was burning me in the background to where my life was no longer what I would consider “well” for me. The next week, I turned in my resignation and within a month my colleague and I launched the Wellife in our community with the intention that a well life means for both the people we help and the business owners or clinicians. Only in this form of mutuality can our society truly solve the problems of tomorrow by honoring what makes them well in the present moment.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
I believe the most effective strategy is resonant to our vision that influences the Wellife. We’re building a world where wellness—both individual and collective—isn’t another thing to chase, but a return to wholeness and meaningful belonging. This is shown in our accessibility to resources, a philosophy of mutuality within community, and a purpose of shared journey with others. What has been one of the most successful aspects of our business is our dedication to evidence-based practice in the fields we work and use of both community resources and technology to strategically tailor right action towards the clients needs. I find this is a great way to reduce immediate barriers clients may have in working with the Wellife.
The second way we have crafted our strategy is by engaging in a philosophy of wellness as a mutual community. In the past and sometimes today it was common to focus solely on the role the client was working with and ignore the many other areas clients may be seeking help for their problems. What we have learned is by engaging the community for coordinating resources, we are able to maximize client care while also supporting the “whole person” in their process. Since many factors impact mental health, working with other resources such as housing, financial planning, complimentary health alternative groups, and primary care physicians support help reduce stress for the client while also addressing multiple issues for the client at once. This also holds the major benefit of creating a mutually beneficial partnership between the Wellife and the community partner, further supporting a healthy community.
The final way we crafted our strategy is by focusing on the client’s purpose and championing them by working collaboratively during their journey. The Wellife hosts numerous ways to support different needs in the community from the primary focus of supporting clients with mental health needs, to supporting community members with professional coaching and improvement of life goals, and working with other counselors and business owners to help develop and successfully launch their own ethical and reputable business in the community. This multi-pronged approach allows our business to pour into our city ways of supporting improved health, life purpose, and economic development in the community. What I also enjoy about this perspective is it helps to not have to do big things alone. Our strategy is collaborative in that we journey with people through their hardships, barriers, and complexity to support their goals towards improved life satisfaction, flourishing, and overall, a well life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thewellife.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewellife/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Wellife/61573790251624/#
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-wellife/
