About

StoryChangers® utilizes the tool of clinical hypnosis to facilitate access to inner resources, creating an ideal environment for desired changes to occur. Although this may sound strange or even science-fiction-like, this is not a fable, and in fact is research-backed and used by thousands of medical and mental health professionals around the world. Our miraculous bodies have inborn abilities which can be focused on and enhanced through hypnosis, which is a natural way of being and is easily accessed for specific needs. The powerful tool of hypnosis allows us to bypass the conscious critical mind that is causing us to be stuck in a pattern of unwanted thoughts or behaviors, and instead facilitate our use of subconscious resources to better manage or overcome problems.

StoryChangers® is owned by Susan (Suze) Kopynec. Suze graduated from Elon University with a degree in biology and medical lab technology and attended graduate school at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and University of Nebraska Medical Center where she was trained as a PA in the traditional medical model. She has a direct understanding of and appreciation for the medical profession of which she’s been a part for over thirty years. From 2016 through 2017, she enhanced her medical education with certifications in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) and as a Positive Psychology Coach (APPC) through The Flourishing Center. In 2019, when she became aware of the positive outcomes related to research on clinical hypnosis, Suze began clinical training. She planned to offer this as an option to improve well-being for the medical professionals she served while Director of The Foundation of FirstHealth’s Center for Provider Wellbeing. When our global pandemic changed those plans, her focus turned full-time to learning all she could about how hypnosis can help people actively heal and improve their lives. Suze benefitted through her own life-changing experiences with utilization of self-hypnosis. Until fully confident, she provided gratis sessions for 18 months following early training and is committed to continuing this service on a limited basis. The positive outcomes highlighted the need for others to have access to professional hypnosis services, leading to the dream and then debut of StoryChangers® in 2022.

Following required basic, intermediate, and advanced training through the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH), 28 hours of 1:1 mentorship from a Tufts affiliated medical doctor (ASCH Approved Consultant), and the required two years of using hypnosis with patients, Suze achieved gold-standard ASCH certification in 2022, which stipulates ongoing advanced education in clinical hypnosis. The privilege of receiving training and certification in the use of clinical hypnosis is restricted to those who have an active license to practice their health-related discipline in the state where they reside, and a master’s or doctoral degree. As clinical hypnosis is research-based and well supported by science, its use has been embraced by highly reputable academic medical institutions including Harvard, MIT, Yale, Mayo Clinic, and Johns Hopkins, among many more.

In a Stanford University Medical Center press release from July 28, 2016 that speaks to objective evidence of hypnosis effects, Dr. David Spiegel states that:

“Hypnosis is the oldest Western form of psychotherapy, but it’s been tarred with the brush of dangling watches and purple capes. In fact, it’s a very powerful means of changing the way we use our minds to control perception and our bodies.“

– David Spiegel, M.D., Associate Chair of Psychiatry at Stanford University & respected expert in the clinical use of hypnosis