WELCOME

I want to know things and hold them loosely

Home: Welcome

MINDFUL MOMENT

As you read these words, you’re invited to pause and be present with whatever comes, without needing to change anything. You might ask yourself, “How am I doing right now?” There’s no right or expected answer. Notice what, if anything, wants your attention. This could be a word, an image, a memory, a thought, or it may simply be a sense of being here. If nothing comes, that’s okay too. See if you can keep whatever arises company with curiosity and respect, without judgment or pressure. Being present, aware, and listening deeply to yourself, while allowing choice and pacing, is at the heart of Mindful Practice.

Welcome. My name is Annecy Báez, and I am a psychotherapist with over thirty years of experience working with children, adolescents, and adults. I offer a relational, present-focused approach to therapy that honors the full context of your life, including your relationships, culture, history, and the environments that have shaped you.

My work is informed by the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) and other integrative approaches. Many of the patterns we struggle with today developed as intelligent adaptations to earlier experiences. Rather than trying to fix these patterns, we approach them with curiosity and respect, exploring how they show up in your body, emotions, and relationships in the present moment. I draw flexibly from supportive therapy, Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy, and Internal Family Systems, guided by what feels most helpful for you.

I hold deep respect for storytelling, meaning-making, and the ways personal and cultural histories live in the nervous system. Experiences such as migration, racism, spirituality, family expectations, and belonging are essential to understanding how safety, connection, and agency are shaped. Your story matters here.

My approach is trauma-informed, body-aware, and relational. When helpful, I integrate expressive and reflective practices such as bibliotherapy, visual journaling, dreamwork, and SoulCollage® as invitations for awareness and integration. Therapy with me is collaborative and respectful, grounded in the belief that healing grows through relationship, presence, and honoring your lived experience.

Journal Practice

My Therapeutic Stance

I am mindful of time, context, and pacing, and I am committed to meeting you where you are. People come to therapy for many different reasons, shaped by culture, history, access, and life circumstances. Not everyone is seeking long-term exploration, and not everyone has had spaces where they felt fully seen or respected. For that reason, I offer flexible ways of working together:

Single-session consultation for focused support, reflection, or guidance
Short-term work (4–6 sessions) for specific concerns or goals
Extended work (12+ sessions) for deeper exploration of longstanding patterns and relational wounds

We revisit goals together and adjust as needed. Even when our work is brief, my hope is that our time opens space for self-compassion, presence, and a greater sense of dignity and choice in your life.

Guiding Questions for Our Work Together

The questions below are invitations, not expectations. You are welcome to journal about them, reflect quietly, speak them aloud, or ignore them altogether. There is no pressure to disclose more than feels right. We will move at a pace that respects your readiness, your boundaries, and the cultural and personal meanings you bring to this work.

A NARM-Informed, Culturally Attuned Approach

NARM is the foundation of my therapeutic practice. Developed by Dr. Laurence Heller, NARM focuses on how early relational experiences shape our nervous system, sense of self, and capacity for connection. It is organized around five core biological needs: Connection, Attunement, Trust, Autonomy, and Love–Sexuality.

When these needs are disrupted, through family dynamics, cultural expectations, migration, racism, gendered violence, poverty, or other systemic realities, we develop survival strategies that help us adapt and endure. These strategies are not pathology. They are intelligent responses to the conditions in which we lived. At the same time, what once supported survival may now limit ease, intimacy, agency, or authenticity.

My work is NARM-informed and culturally responsive, which means we pay attention not only to early relationships, but also to how social, cultural, and historical contexts continue to shape your nervous system and sense of safety today. We explore how patterns show up in the present, how you relate to yourself, to others, to boundaries, to choice, and to longing, while honoring the wisdom of your adaptations. Storytelling, meaning-making, spirituality, and intergenerational experience are welcomed here. Your lived experience is not treated as background or “extra,” but as essential to understanding how connection and protection have formed in your life.

How We Work in the Present Moment

In our sessions, I often ask gentle, present-focused questions such as:

What would you like from our time together today?
What would you like to experience more of in yourself or your life?
As you share this, how are you relating to yourself right now?

These questions help us notice not only what you’ve lived through, but how you hold your experience today. From there, we explore, at your pace, the natural tension between your longing for connection and the protective strategies that have helped you survive.

Reflective Prompts for Beginning Our Work

You may find the following prompts helpful as you consider beginning therapy. They are offered as companions, not tasks. Even if we never meet, I hope they support reflection, care, and self-understanding.

Step 1: Making Contact

As you arrive here, how are you noticing yourself right now?
What brings you here at this moment in your life?
Does this feel like a place you want to explore, or are you simply pausing here for now?
What kind of pace feels supportive for you at the beginning?

Step 2: Creating a Working Agreement

What do you need from me to feel respected and supported?
What feels possible for you to offer or commit to right now, given your life context?
How will we know together if the pace feels right?
Does this feel like a collaboration you are willing to explore?

Step 3: Hopes, Longings, and Concerns

What do you hope might be different in your life as a result of this work?
What are you longing for more of—in yourself or in your relationships?
What have your past experiences with support or therapy been like?
Are there hesitations, fears, or cultural considerations that feel important to name?

Step 4: What Brings You Here Now

What has been happening recently that led you to reach out at this time?
As you reflect on this, what do you notice in your body or emotions?
What feels most alive, urgent, or meaningful to talk about today?

Step 5: Patterns and Protective Strategies

Are there patterns you notice repeating in your life or relationships?
How might these patterns have helped you cope or belong at earlier times?
What do you find yourself wanting now—and what may get in the way?
What feels ready to explore, and what might need more time or care?

Step 6: Reviewing and Choosing Next Steps

How has this reflection been for you?
Does it feel supportive to continue working together?
Have your hopes or priorities shifted at all?
How would you like to move forward from here?

To schedule a free phone consultation, you may call me at 914-920-2393. If we decide to work together, you will receive an invitation to my secure client portal to complete forms and schedule future appointments.

“Healing begins when we relate to ourselves

with curiosity rather than judgment.”

Teletherapy

Teletherapy

My teletherapy is relational and present-focused. Even online, we slow down together to notice your experience in the moment, your emotions, sensations, and the ways you relate to yourself, so the work remains grounded and deeply human.