About Trace Hobson

Healthcare leadership isn’t broken—it was designed this way.

Systemic Distress Loops keep leaders trapped in firefighting, forcing them to manage burnout, dysfunction, and impossible demands.

I know.

For 25 years, I lived it.

👉 I help healthcare leaders escape Systemic Distress Loops and rewire leadership at the nervous system level—so their teams don’t just stay—they thrive and lead themselves.

From Overwhelmed Leader to Systemic Transformation

For 25 years, I lived the leadership story you probably know all too well:

✅ Employee crises everywhere.
✅ Union constraints tied my hands.
✅ Rising targets, disappearing resources.
✅ Compliance mandates that didn’t make sense.
✅ A culture of constant urgency, waiting for the next fire.

On paper? I was a success. Metrics were met. Boxes checked.

But under the surface? That success was breaking me and my team.

I told myself, “Once we get through this quarter, this year—things will be different.”

That day never came.

And the fractures kept showing up:

❌ Pouring resources into training—only to lose staff anyway.  
❌ Feeling powerless to create real, lasting transformation. 
❌ Fighting rising absenteeism while already short-staffed. 
❌ Dealing with toxic behaviors that wouldn’t change. 
❌ Watching my best people burn out and leave.

🚨 The System’s Wake-Up Call

I was working 80-hour weeks while raising three daughters on my own.

At home, my kids were struggling.
At work, my team was drowning.
And I was stuck between both, carrying a truth I couldn’t admit:

I wasn’t leading—I was surviving.

Fear ran the show.

⚡ Fear that no matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t enough.

⚡ Fear that this was just how leadership had to be.

⚡ Fear that I couldn’t fix what needed fixing.

And then, in 2008, one conversation changed my life.

A friend mentioned a course on systemic transformation for families and organizations.

Something told me to take the course.

What I discovered shattered everything I thought I knew about leadership:

💡 My reactiveness, anxiety, and need for control weren’t failures. They were systemic messages.
💡 The same patterns driving my team away could be transformed into forces for connection and trust.
💡 The reason my leadership strategies weren’t working? Because trust isn’t built—it’s biologically designed.

Because when people feel truly safe…

✅ Trust emerges naturally.
✅ Teams shift from surviving to thriving.
✅ Change flows instead of creating resistance.
✅ Those “impossible” problems? Start solving themselves.

From Leadership Burnout to Systemic Safe Space Leadership

Over the next decade, I rewired everything I knew about leadership:

🔥 Became a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) specializing in psychological safety.
🔥 Mastered Systemic Intelligence & Trauma-Informed Leadership.
🔥 Developed Safe Space Systemic Coaching—a new way to rewire leadership at the nervous system level.
🔥 Helped leaders turn burnout culture into psychologically safe, thriving teams.

By 2016, I knew it was time to leave the firefighting cycle—and help leaders like you build teams that don’t just stay, but evolve into ecosystems of trust.

Why This Matters for You

That guilt you carry about your team’s suffering?
That fear that you’re failing them?

🚨 Those aren’t signs of weakness.
They are your system’s most powerful messages—waiting to be decoded and transformed.

When you learn to read those signals instead of fighting them…

✅ Staff don’t just stay—they lead from purpose.
✅ Toxic teams transform into deeply connected ecosystems.
✅ Leadership stops feeling like weight—and starts feeling like flow.
✅ You create impact that lasts—without burning yourself out.

Most importantly?

🚨 You stop carrying the weight of everyone’s well-being alone.

Are You Ready to Stop Surviving and Start Leading?

I know you’ve tried it all—leadership courses, team-building, consultants who don’t get healthcare’s real pressures.

🚀 This is different.

This isn’t about adding more to your plate.
It’s about changing the way you lead at a biological, systemic level.

Together, we’ll create an environment where:

✅ Your staff want to stay—because they feel seen and supported.
✅ Your teams stop the dysfunction and start thriving together.
✅ Your leadership creates trust, impact, and long-term transformation.

🔥 Let’s decode your system’s signals—and turn them into your greatest leadership breakthroughs.

📌 Join the Safe Space Rebellion in two ways: 

🔹 Join the Safe Space Rebellion Community → Get access to coaching, burnout-proof leadership strategies, and peer support.

🔹 Subscribe to the Safe Space Rebellion Newsletter → Get exclusive insights and action plans straight to your inbox.

See you inside the rebellion.

🔥 Trace

Six Systemic Distress Spirals & Playbooks 

Trust Collapse (Disconnection)

Your team isn’t resistant to change—they’re biologically wired to retreat when trust is broken. Trust Collapse happens when safety erodes, triggering withdrawal and silence.

🔥 Conversations stall.
🔥 Collaboration disappears.
🔥 Leaders carry the weight alone.

This isn’t about motivation—it’s about rewiring the system for trust at the biological level so your team stops retreating and starts re-engaging.

👉 Start Reconnecting →

Operational Breakdown (Dysfunction)

Dysfunction isn’t random—it’s a system failure. When clarity collapses and co-regulation is missing, teams spiral into misaligned goals, fear-driven decisions, and operational chaos.

🔥 Confusion turns into conflict.
🔥 Conflict turns into burnout.
🔥 Burnout turns into collapse.

Fixing this isn’t about “better communication” or another leadership retreat. It’s about building a self-regulating system—where trust, clarity, and stability drive every decision.

👉 Fix the Chaos →

Commitment Collapse (Disengagement)

Your team isn’t unmotivated—they’re psychologically unprotected. Burnout, presenteeism, and low commitment aren’t signs of laziness; they’re symptoms of a system that makes people feel unseen, unheard, and unsafe.

🔥 Engagement can’t be forced.
🔥 Ownership can’t be demanded.
🔥 But they can be designed.

Stop pushing engagement. Build the conditions where people commit naturally.

👉 Unlock Team Buy-In →

Cultural Breakdown (Disrespect)

Toxic behavior isn’t a personality issue—it’s a safety failure. Gossip, blame, and hostility aren’t random—they’re predictable responses to an unsafe system.

🔥 When trust erodes, people turn against each other.
🔥 When fear drives behavior, dysfunction spreads.
🔥 When toxicity becomes normal, good people leave.

This isn’t about “fixing” individuals. It’s about rewiring the culture so respect becomes the default—not the exception.

👉 Set the Standard →

System Overload (Dysregulation)

When stress runs the system, burnout isn’t a possibility—it’s a certainty.

🔥 Teams stuck in chronic fight-or-flight make reactive decisions.
🔥 Clarity disappears.
🔥 Survival replaces strategy.

A dysregulated leader creates a dysregulated team. Learn how to stabilize the system—so you can lead under pressure without losing yourself in it.

👉 Break the Burnout Cycle →

Talent Exodus (Drain)

Retention isn’t about perks—it’s about psychological security.

🔥 Your best people aren’t leaving because of the job.
🔥 They’re leaving because they don’t feel safe enough to stay.
🔥 If they don’t feel valued, seen, and supported—leaving feels like the only option.

Stop the turnover cycle. Create an environment where staying isn’t just an option—it’s the obvious choice.

👉 Retain & Empower Your People →