Transforming Trauma: Episode 188

“Our complexity is okay. Our complexity is natural….I’ve learned to make room for my complexity.”~Tracy Rae Clark

We share stories to inform, inspire, and connect. They also serve as maps, helping people commemorate life experiences that have shaped their journeys. One NARM® practitioner inspires others by putting her stories into poems and lyrics, helping guide others in their own path to healing.

On this episode of Transforming Trauma, host Emily Ruth welcomes singer-songwriter and long-time NARM practitioner Tracy Rae Clark, LCSW, CPC, for a deeply introspective conversation. The pair explores how trauma, creativity, music, spirituality, and relational healing converged in Tracy’s search for genuine connection and well-being.

Tracy begins the discussion with one of her favorite quotes. “The spontaneous movement in all of us is toward health, vitality, aliveness.” Those words, by Dr. Laurence Heller, founder of the NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®), can remind us of our inner wisdom and basic humanity. They set the tone for Tracy’s intention. “I want to encourage other people to see the beauty of their own journey and how all these elements play a role in where we are now and the movement toward aliveness,” she says.

When reflecting on her own life, Tracy says she has witnessed the life force at work even through significant hardship, helping her make sense of both her struggles and her growth. “My family went through some really intense developmental relational trauma when I was about five that impacted us for years, even up until this day,” she observes. “I had this mix of intense trauma and deep love. And I think those two things coming together gave me the shattering of trauma, but also the holding and the love to want something more for myself and have the capacity to seek it.”

Therapy became part of Tracy’s life at age five. Creativity also played a central role. “Poetry was my therapy,” she explains. “I learned to connect with myself, make room for some of my complexity, say stuff to paper that I couldn’t say to a person at the time.” Music and songwriting would also become extensions of this inner work, as would her career ambitions. “When I was in eighth grade, I wanted to be a child psychologist,” she recalls. “The seeds were there really early.”

A pivotal moment came during a college internship in Egypt, where Tracy had a profound spiritual experience. “My life became oriented to more being,” she recalls, “rather than succeeding and achieving.”

Tracy emphasizes that after years on a path of spirituality and healing, her introduction to the NeuroAffective Relational Model felt like coming home. “It’s such a transformative model personally as well as professionally,” she affirms. “I really appreciated and noticed right away the community and people doing depth work. I loved that we were healing in community, watching each other in our vulnerable and brave places.”

Tracy highlights the collaborative culture in the NARM Therapist Trainings, which creates a safe container for honoring human complexity while working in the present moment. “I was learning, oh, I can be in process and not know where I’m going, trust someone to be with me, and trust myself to be vulnerable,” she says. “That, to me, felt beautiful and supportive and to not be alone in what we were discovering about ourselves.”

It’s impossible to separate Tracy from the communities that have guided her healing trajectory. She is deeply grateful for the circle of support that includes family members, creative artists, fellow members of Alcoholics Anonymous, and colleagues at the Complex Trauma Training Center (CTTC). “Ever since I did my first NARM training, I’ve been really involved as a training assistant, helping lead small groups, and I’ve been a perpetual student,” she says. “I trust the love that’s there.”

Transforming Trauma thanks Tracy for sharing her journey. Her honesty and commitment to healing represent what’s possible when we stop trying to “fix” ourselves and instead spontaneously move toward connection and health.