Beginning my practice in Brooklyn
I started working with clients in 2009, while I was still learning NLP. At that stage, my work centered on emotional coaching, NLP and Bach Flower remedies, which I had already used before. Hypnotherapy became part of the practice as my training progressed, and in time I was working as a hypnotherapist in Brooklyn.
Many people came to me with a harsh inner voice, with low self-esteem, or with difficulty trusting their own confidence. Negative self-talk, self-criticism, self-esteem and self-confidence have been part of my work for as long as I have worked with people. What has changed is how I understand those patterns and how I work with them.
In that first period in Brooklyn, much of the work was short, often between one and three sessions. That describes how I worked at the time, not what any engagement should take.
What early training changed for me
I learned Ericksonian hypnosis at The NLP Center of New York, from Rachel Hott and Steven Leeds. In 2010 I completed Ericksonian Hypnosis Level I in March, NLP Coach Practitioner training in May, and Advanced Hypnosis Level II in June.
One group exercise in that training changed how I thought about hypnosis. I had come to remember my childhood as mostly negative. During the exercise I experienced a different connection with it: moments of enjoyment, interests and a sense of resourcefulness that had felt distant.
That experience encouraged me to continue studying hypnosis.
What stayed with me was the experience of relating to myself through more than what had hurt. — Lin Shlonsky
Deepening the work through training and mentorship
Jeffrey Cohen became my mentor as I continued my hypnotherapy training. His teaching expanded my work with childhood fears, emotionally difficult experiences, and the beliefs clients held about themselves. That training progressed from Certified Hypnotherapist to Board Certified Hypnotherapist. I received my Board Certification in Hypnotherapy in March 2013.
I brought that work into my Brooklyn practice and continued there until about 2014, when I moved to North Carolina. There, work on relationships became a larger part of my practice. Relationships and identity had never been absent from my work. They became more central there.
How my approach continued to develop
From 2023 to 2024 I studied self-definition work with Alexander Tolstykh. I did not adopt his method as a whole. I integrated the parts that fit how I already worked.
Over time, I began paying closer attention to how a response repeated across different situations and relationships. A client might describe one difficult interaction, but similar expectations and reactions could appear elsewhere. I became increasingly interested in how the person experienced themselves in those moments, what they expected from others, and how that shaped their response. That perspective now informs how I assess a client's concerns and plan our work.
You can read more about how I work on the method page, and my professional background lists my current qualifications, including my December 2021 IACT Certified Master Trainer certificate.
Working with Brooklyn clients today
Today, I work online with clients in Brooklyn through private Zoom sessions. Online work was already part of my practice before COVID. When I returned to New York for a time, clients in North Carolina stayed with me and we continued remotely, and COVID widened that format.
You can read about the concerns I work with and what sessions involve in hypnotherapy for Brooklyn clients.