Member Spotlight: Traci Blank, Tracing Your Path, LLC
A collaborative office space is such a unique environment because we get to know so many great people with diverse businesses and backgrounds. In this month’s member spotlight, we were able to learn so much about hypnotherapy from Traci Blank of Tracing Your Path Hypnotherapy, LLC. We stepped into her relaxing and quiet private office to discuss her business story and the hypnotherapy field.
Traci is the sole owner of Tracing Your Path Hypnotherapy, which she established in 2007. She works with clients on stress, anxiety, grief, fears, phobias, white coat syndrome, cancer support and much more. She explains that hypnotherapy is a way to feel “empowered and connected to yourself by knowing how to communicate with your body” – to find the “click” that seems simple but isn’t.
Traci’s first experience with hypnotherapy was actually as a patient. Before her foray into hypnotherapy, she was a social worker for kids with mental and behavioral health issues, which aligns with her constant work towards helping others. This was a high stress role which coupled with her own anxiety caused her to have periodic panic attacks, and ultimately take a leave of absence from her role. It even developed into her losing sensation in one half of her body and vision in the other – the doctors were suggesting that this might be the first attack of Multiple Sclerosis. After going through outpatient programs and different medications nothing seemed to work, so although she was skeptical, she was willing to try when someone suggested hypnotherapy.
By her third session working with a hypnotherapist, she had no more panic attacks and was able to get off of all her anxiety medications. Now relieved from many of the physical manifestations of stress, she decided that “this is what I need to do!” She felt empowered by the changes she experienced and also by the fact that hypnotherapists were able to “help people who want to be helped”, a factor that was usually lacking in the social work field.
She began studying one on one with that hypnotherapist, who used a basic suggestion therapy method. Once she realized there were more medical connections to be made with hypnotherapy, she studied at the Hypnotherapy Academy of America associated with the University of New Mexico Medical School. This allowed her to apply this knowledge to her later position at Morristown hospital. Though she appreciated working in the hospital, the constant “red tape” was one of the reasons she moved to private practice.
Growing up with two parents who started their own businesses, Traci felt confident to branch out on her own. For anyone considering opening a business, she says,
“Talk to people! There’s enough free resources for small businesses including at the small business development center. There’s so many people that you can talk to for free. Also, be patient! Nothing happens overnight.”
She maintains great connections with other specialized hypnotherapists to refer patients out to when their requests don’t match her areas of expertise. She also conducts stress and anxiety workshops and has spoken at leadership retreats, universities, and high schools. If you are interested in hosting a workshop for your company, you can contact her at Traci@TracingYourPath.com.
There are several misconceptions about hypnotherapy that she usually clears up with her clients to confirm that they are taking part in a professional and scientifically-backed process. She says that people may think it is “not real”, “magic they can’t understand”, or “mind control”. However, these are false. Hypnotherapy deals with opening the subconscious mind and the monitoring of brain waves. It is aimed at getting past the brain’s “critical factor” – what she describes as the “bouncer of thoughts”. This process is to access our subconscious and figure out how those thoughts manifest into our conscious behaviors and feelings.
As for advice for anyone going into the hypnotherapy industry, Traci emphasizes that a good practice needs to tailor to each individual and their anxieties because “reading a script is not serving your client”. The same words may have different connotations and can be triggering depending on the source of a person’s stress. Her hypnotherapy methods combine different scientific and medical approaches in order to customize to each clients’ needs.
Traci is one of the first members of Office Evolution Somerville and has had a private furnished office since 2015. The quiet professional environment allows her to take in clients and conduct her practice in a quiet and private setting. Having someone at the front desk to greet her clients and let her know when someone arrives is very useful benefit to being part of Office Evolution. If you or a friend need to work on stress and anxiety or host a workshop, visit Traci’s website https://tracingyourpath.com or contact her Traci@TracingYourPath.com or (732) 595-2370. Thank you so much Traci for sharing your story and being an amazing part of this Office Evolution family.