Fadya Al Bakry, LPC, LCDC
I work primarily with three communities: people carrying complex trauma, expats adjusting to life far from where they started, and LGBTQIA2S+ Arabs and Muslims. My practice is grounded in the body, because that's where the real work tends to happen.
Book a Free ConsultationHow I Work
Most people show up expecting to just talk. We do talk. But what's really running the show? The tightness in your chest, the breath you hold before you speak, the shutdown that arrives when you should feel something and don't. That's where I work. I'm trained in NARM and Somatic Experiencing, which are both ways of listening to what the body has been carrying. We pay attention to what's happening in your nervous system, in real time, and we work with it.
I think a lot about muted empathy or the way some of us learned to turn the volume down on what we feel because feeling it wasn't safe. That disconnect between knowing something is hard and not being able to feel it? Your body was protecting you. We work with that, not against it.
Even if you don't have the words, your body can often tell the story.
"You don't have to translate yourself here."
Who I Work With
I organize my practice by lived experience, not diagnosis. If you see yourself here, this is for you.
Pain that didn't happen once. It happened every day. Maybe a household. Maybe a system. The water you grew up treading. This is developmental trauma: layered, relational, and held in the body. Most of my training has been focused here. You don't need to have it figured out before we meet.
For those of us who grew up translating not just language, but worlds. The ache of living between cultures lives in your nervous system. I'm an expat too. My parents are Kenyan, I speak Swahili and Arabic, and a lot of my clients land here because that part of me is on the table. You don't have to explain the in-between.
You get a therapist who doesn't flinch when you bring your whole self into the room. Your queerness and your faith. Your family and your truth. I'm not going to ask you to pick between parts of yourself. All of you belongs here.
What Happens Here
I trained in these because they work for the communities I serve.
NARM
NARM is built for Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), Complex Trauma, or Developmental Trauma which can all impact how you interact with the world around you. The kind of trauma that can build when you grow up in an environment that asks you to adapt. That kind of trauma doesn't always look like trauma from the outside. It reflects in how you show up for relationships, work, and your own body.
NARM looks at how your earliest relationships shaped the way you connect, set boundaries, and trust. We work with the patterns your nervous system built. The ones that made sense then and might be running the show now.
In practice, it feels like having someone finally ask the right questions. We pay attention to what's happening between us, as it happens. That's where things can start to shift.
SE
Trauma can reflect in your muscles, your breath, and your gut. SE helps your nervous system begin to work through the fight-or-flight responses that were never fully resolved. Your body remembers. This is for the body to process and release.
In session, I might ask you where you feel something in your body. We slow way down. We pay attention to the sensations and impulses that happen below the level of thought. It's gentle, but it reaches places talk alone can't.
I've trained extensively in SE. This is the deepest part of my practice.
About
I'm an expat. My parents are Kenyan. I'm first generation Middle Eastern; my kids are first generation American. I speak English, Swahili, and Arabic. I've been in Austin for thirty years.
I hold an LPC and LCDC and I've spent over a decade in continuing training, focusing extensively on Somatic Experiencing. Many therapists do one level of SE training and that alone makes them unique. I kept going because the communities I work with needed someone who could go even deeper.
Outside the office, I have a lot of plants — ten Fiddle Leaf Fig trees and a 9-foot pencil cactus, last count. I read, I'm into interior design, and I'll do almost anything to get out of cooking. I share a Mid-Century Modern home with my husband and a rescue Himalayan Persian cat. We try to get to a national park most years.
Education
Licenses
Certifications
Practical Stuff
Yes. I'm in-network with Aetna, United Healthcare, and Modern Health (EAP). If I'm out-of-network for you, I use Reimbursify to file your out-of-network claims with your insurer.
$175 for a 50-minute session. The first 45-minute consultation is free. An initial conversation about whether we're a good fit.
Yes. Most of my work is with people carrying complex trauma — C-PTSD, developmental trauma, and those with high ACE scores. NARM and Somatic Experiencing are both built for these lived experiences. We start with whatever you choose to bring to our first session.
3006 Bee Caves Road, Austin TX 78746. Virtual sessions available for anyone in Texas. Whatever works for you.
Monday through Friday, 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Kept intentionally. Mornings are for my own work so I can show up fully in the afternoons.
Both. Some of the somatic work lands better in person, but I've adapted my practice for virtual sessions too. We can talk through what makes sense for you during the consultation.
Schedule directly through my online booking portal. Pick a time that works. Or use the contact form below and I'll get back to you.
NARM (NeuroAffective Relational Model) is a therapy approach for trauma that builds slowly over time, often in childhood relationships. Rather than focusing on what happened, NARM looks at the strategies you built to cope and how they're still shaping your present.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-based therapy that works with the way trauma lives in the body. Instead of focusing on what you remember, SE pays attention to what your body is doing right now. Your breath, posture, sensations you feel, all reflect your nervous system which we will explore using SE.
Ready?
The free 45-minute consultation is a real conversation. We'll talk about what's going on and whether this is the right fit.
If you're in crisis right now, please call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or call 911. This form isn't monitored in real time.