CATALYST
Retreat
Thursday 27th - Sunday 30th Nov, 2025
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Welcome to CATALYST
A 3-night transformational retreat for leaders who want to lead with even more passion & purpose.
You’ve achieved a lot. You’ve pushed hard, built a career or business, maybe even hit milestones others only dream about.
But deep down, you know there’s more in you. More clarity. More courage. More fire. More passion.
CATALYST is where ambitious, purpose-driven leaders, entrepreneurs, and change-makers come to ignite that fire again. It’s not another workshop, course, or networking event. It’s a Rite of Passage - an unforgettable retreat in a stunning natural location - designed to shake you out of autopilot and unlock your next chapter.
And it doesn’t end when you leave. Every retreat is followed by group coaching and integration support so the breakthroughs you have become lasting change in your life and leadership.
Why CATALYST?
Every transformation starts with a choice.
Something - or someone - becomes the spark that changes everything.
If you’ve landed here, you already feel it: something has to shift.
Maybe this sounds familiar:
You’re at a crossroads. What got you here won’t get you there. You know you can’t keep operating the same way, but you don’t know the next move yet.
You feel stuck. Life feels like Groundhog Day. You’re running hard but going nowhere. You crave something real, embodied, and different.
You’re hungry for challenge. Growth is in your DNA. You want something that pushes your edge and calls you into your full power as a leader.
If this is you, CATALYST Retreat was created for you.
Are you ready for a life-changing experience?
Program Overview
Do you answer yes to any of these questions?
Do you feel like you’re at a crossroads or stuck in a rut and you’re not sure how to move forward?
Are you looking for your next challenge in life and career?
Have you tried conventional personal development or wellbeing practices and you’re ready for another way?
Do you want to get clarity on your career and get connected to what you’re truly meant to be doing with your life?
Are you ready and open to trying another way of accessing your full potential and power as a leader?
Are you ready for an experience that will CATALYSE change in your life and career?
Note: While our last program was only for men, this edition of CATALYST is open to all genders.
Do you desire to have the following?
Clarity on what you truly want in your life
Confidence in yourself to take action and follow through
Passion and excitement about the life you’re creating
Purpose, direction and knowing where you’re heading
Tools and skills that you can take with you anywhere you go
A community of like-minded people and leaders to support you
If you answered yes to these, we designed CATALYST exactly for you.
What’s involved
Step 1 - Preparation
Once your registration for the program is confirmed, you’ll be given all the information you need to start preparing for the experience. This step will involve:
1:1 Coaching Call with Matt: designed to help you clarify your intention for the experience and provide you with any support you need in the lead up.
Group Call: you’ll get to meet the rest of the group via Zoom and start to be given everything you need before the retreat.
Step 2 - Experience (3 nights)
This is at the heart of the program, and will include you travelling to a beautiful destination, ready to immerse yourself in the experience. You can expect the following:
3 nights at a nature-based retreat location
A technology-free experience (you’ll be asked to hand you phone and watch in)
Being guided through an in-depth experience designed to help you catalyse change in your self and in your life
Group sessions that include breathwork, ice baths, group work, somatic experiencing, reflection sessions, group discussions and meals, a cacao ceremony and sound healing
Healthy, wholefood meals cooked and prepared by our team and with your help (preparing and eating food together is a big part of our experiences)
Tea included (note: this will be a caffeine-free coffee retreat - eg. no coffee)
All accommodation and bedding included
A gift pack to support you through the experience
Direct access and support to our facilitation team throughout
Step 3 - Integration (3 weeks)
Once you’ve arrived safely home after the experience, the real work begins - the work of integration. This stage will form the majority of the online component of the program, and will include:
Weekly Group Calls: every week for 3 weeks you’ll meet as a group and with the retreat facilitation team to share updates, get support to take action in your life and be supported to continue integrating the practical somatic tools taught on the retreat
You’ll also be part of a Whatsapp group throughout the experience designed to support you as much as possible in your preparation and integration.
Retreat Structure & Flow
Every Retreat is different, and the structure and flow below is subject to change on the experience based on what the team believes is needed for the group. However, this is the overall structure and flow you can expect:
Thursday
Arrive by 7pm and connect with the group
Friday
Nourishing breakfast
Activities and games designed to connect the group
Gaining clarity on your intention for this experience (your why)
Time for reflection on why you’re here (your story)
Groupwork and breathwork designed to help you grow and evolve
(the challenge)
Saturday
Nourishing breakfast, lunch and dinner
Time for reflection and debriefing from the day before
Cacao Ceremony and Sound Healing
Guided exercises to help you gain clarity on where you’re heading next in your life (your vision)
Guided activity to acknowledge and honour each other (honouring)
Celebration dinner and fire (celebration)
Monday Morning
Light breakfast
Packup bags, checkout circle and head home
What you’ll leave with:
(Program Outcomes)
CONVICTION
You’ll become a person that follows through and does what you actually say you’re going to do.
You’ll have greater levels of confidence and trust in yourself, earned and developed through the experience
CONFIDENCE
CLARITY
You’ll know where you want to go in your life and career, without needing to know how, plus you’ll have practical tools to maintain this.
COMMUNITY
You’ll have a community of like-minded people who also care about living with purpose and integrity
Investment
Private Room
$2,500 AUD
Shared Room
$2,000 AUD
Book before 27th October and save $250
How to register:
Click on the form below and pay your $1,000 AUD deposit
Pay In Full or Payment Plans are available (please indicate in the form)
If you have any further questions, please email us at hello@anotherway.au
Our Venue
Our retreat venue is the stunning Peninsula Flower House on the Mornington Peninsula. Just a 60-minute drive from Melbourne, this private property sits on 50-acres of private land.
This isn’t your regular retreat
This a Rite of Passage.
A transformational experience designed to empower you to step into a new version of yourself and your life.
What's a Rite of Passage?
For thousands of years, Rites of Passage have helped people grow. In some cultures, young people were sent into the wild with a task and couldn’t return until they completed it. When they came back, they were seen as leaders because they had overcome the challenge.
Today, we can use this idea to create experiences that help anyone ready to grow and change. Rites of Passage are actually more present than we realise (eg. getting married, graduating), but they are hugely under-utilised to help people grow.
Why Do You Need a Rite of Passage?
Modern society lacks Rites of Passage, leaving us stuck in old habits and roles. A Rite of Passage can help you transform into a new version of yourself, much like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Think of this as a threshold - when you step through it, you transform and change into a different version of yourself.
What makes CATALYST different?
There are 3 key elements to CATALYST that ensures it’s a transformational experience and separates it from other retreat experiences:
1 - Integration Program + Practical Tools
Before and after the retreat you’ll receive comprehensive support via self-guided preparation, 1:1 coaching and group coaching calls. After the retreat, you’ll also be supported to make tangible changes in your life and career with a 4-week group integration program.
Additionally, you'll be taught a combination of tools and skills that will help you to access and connect to both your mind and body. These practices will help you connect more deeply to your passion and purpose so you can make aligned choices in your life and career, and you’ll be supported to integrate these into your everyday life.
2 - Technology-free Environment + Time in Nature
You'll hand in your phone at the start of the retreat, creating a technology-free environment where you can fully engage in the experience. This is a unique opportunity to disconnect from the regular world so you can find the answers you’re looking for.
You'll also stay on a private 25-acre property in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. Surrounded by ancient gum trees and lush forest, this natural environment will provide you with a space away from the regular world so you can connect more deeply with yourself and the experience.
3 - A like-minded community
You won’t be going through this experience alone. You’ll be connected with other like-minded people that have all chosen to invest in themselves and in this experience. You’ll be connected not just on the retreat, but also in the preparation and integration program, creating long-lasting relationships and giving you a community of men that you can trust.
Testimonials
-
![]()
Pete - Photographer, Adventurer, Hockey Coach & Leader
“CATALYST was truly, truly profound. I’d never been on a retreat before, so I didn’t really know what I was in for. What I got to experience with Matt & El was truly life-changing. Not only their facilitation experience but also the other people I got to connect with.
The most pivotal moment of the retreat was the challenge part, under the guidance of Matt and El. They were both there to guide me, hold me, support me, through what I needed to work through.
I can’t recommend the retreat enough. It’s changed my life, made me a better man, better friend, better partner and a stronger person. I’m so clear on what I want to do with my future now and so at peace with myself.”
-
![]()
Charles - Senior Manager, PwC
“I came to CATALYST because I was at a real crossroads in my life. I was looking for that spark, guidance and help with taking that next step in my life.
I now feel loved and a real sense of community that we built over such a short time. I felt like i was in safe hands, that the facilitators cared and that the other participants really helped me with where I’m at now at the end of the retreat.”
-
![]()
Janelle - Director, PwC
“I am so glad I made the decision to go on this retreat - I wasn't sure what to expect but I had immense trust in Matt, so I threw myself in and have undoubtedly come out a different person the other side.
I would highly recommend this retreat to anyone feeling in a rut with their lives / careers / relationships and seeking clarity, and also anyone looking to be part of a community of like-minded individuals who are going to have your back through the process.”
-
![]()
Evan - Entrepeneur / Digital Nomad, Co-Founder ‘The Art of Monday’s’
“I didn’t fully know what I was getting myself into, and 48 hours later I’ve come out a different person. I’m so grateful for what this experience has taught me.
CATALYST has allowed me to understand more about myself and what gives me that spark in my life. I didn’t know I needed it until I was here. While the learning has just begun I feel a sense of freedom and ease.
I’d recommend this for people who want change, who want growth and want to discover themselves but are maybe too afraid to start or too overwhelmed by what they might discover.
If you want to be your best self and lean into the uncomfortable and grow, then CATALYST and anything that Matt does, is the place to go.”
-
![]()
Sam - Software Engineer
“I was brought to CATALYST looking for a different space that I didn’t have in my everyday life with my mates and family.
Ir was a place for me to be vulnerable and open when I wasn’t yet ready t do that with my mates.
As a result of being here, I’ve experienced and felt a release that I’ve so desperately needed. It feels great and I can honestly say that for the first time in a long time.”
The Team
You’re in very safe hands.
Matt Defina - Retreat Lead, Founder - Another Way, Psychologist
Matt has worked with and spoken to over 25,000 men and women globally about how to grow and evolve into the best version of themselves.
As a trained Organisational Psychologist, Matt has conducted research on burnout, psychological safety, adaptive leadership, and gender stereotypes. After completing his studies, Matt started a career at PwC as a change management consultant, but quickly realized corporate life wasn’t for him.
Inspired by the social impact sector and wanting to do more, Matt became Head of Programs at The Man Cave, a charity dedicated to equipping young men with emotional intelligence skills and tools they needed to become healthy men. For five years, he developed a curriculum on healthy masculinity, created and delivered retreats, and expanded the organization's research on masculinity.
In 2022, Matt endured a series of panic attacks, depression, anxiety and eventually burnout that forced him to look at his own life and work. After taking some time out, Matt founded Another Way and decided it was time to start helping other purpose-driven professionals create a meaningful life and career.
Matt’s journey has included summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro, trekking to Mt. Everest Base Camp, completing an Ironman Triathlon, scuba diving with sharks and whales, completing a 10-day silent meditation retreat and participating in or leading over 25 transformational retreats worldwide.
With this extensive experience, Matt is well-equipped to guide others through their own Rite of Passage - he knows what it takes to walk through the fire and is here to show the way.
Elli Norris - Somatic Breathwork Facilitator
El has traversed through numerous adversities from childhood through her teenage years. Without any education or awareness of how traumatic events impact emotional wellbeing and everyday life, she went on to University to study Outdoor Education and eventually achieved a managerial position in Outdoor Education, where she reached a pivotal moment necessitating change.
Whilst she was making an impact working with students and teachers, her experiences included emotional outbursts, uncontrollable anger and frustration in stressful situations, alongside avoidance tendencies and numbing emotions with substances. Despite career success, she felt unfulfilled and sensed a deeper calling in life. Facing nervous breakdowns and panic attacks, El embarked on a healing journey that led her to discover the transformative power of breathwork somatic therapy.
Now, El is dedicated to creating healing spaces using somatic approaches—breath, movement, sound, and touch. She offers compassionate, intuitive guidance through a blend of these elements, along with emotions and meditation tools, to release physical blockages, regulate the nervous system and connect people back into the wisdom of the body to foster holistic wellbeing.
With over a decade of experience in outdoor education, specializing in boys' schools, El is deeply committed to creating nurturing environments for people to heal and grow. Her passion for this work stems from both personal experiences and extensive interactions with teenagers, giving her profound insights into how societal norms and cultural expectations shape people’s lives.
FAQs
-
If you can't make one of the calls, you can speak with us during your discovery call or during the program. While part of your commitment to the program is that you make all calls, we also know that life happens and will work with you on this. That being said, we also know that accountability is a key part of this program.
-
Yes, we'll work with you to cater for your dietary needs. Please note, we will be eating a wholefoods / paleo diet on the retreat. If you have any specific needs or requests, you can let us know when you book your place.
-
Unfortunately you cannot just participate in the retreat. When you commit to Catalyst, you're committing to the 1 group call, the preparation work, the 1:1 calls with Matt, the entirety of the retreat, the 6 integration calls, the final group experience and participating in the Whatsapp group. This has been designed to give you the best chance of actually making change in your life and requires your commitment.
-
You can refer to the program outline above to see all key dates.
-
Yes, we do offer payment plans. A $2,000 deposit will be required to confirm your place. After this, a payment plan of 2 x $1,000 is available. This is required to be paid before the retreat commences.
-
The last chance you have to join the program will be Sunday 16th February.
-
Yes, this program is suitable for men that are struggling with or have struggled with their mental health. However, before participating in the program, we do require that you have stable mental health. If you are currently experiencing experiencing intense depression, anxiety or addiction we suggest you seek out more specific support via a health professional, such as a Psychologist or a Counsellor. We will be happy to refer you to effective practitioners if needed. If you're not sure where you fit on this spectrum, book a call with us and we can discuss.
