Intellectually Entertaining. Socially Relevant.
Nick Baez, M.S. is a native of New York, New York (Lower East Side) and currently resides in Denver, Colorado. Throughout his academic and professional career, he has been a scholar in the fields of psychotherapy, anger and aggression research, trauma, youth leadership initiatives, and teaching. Committed to sound research and program development, Nick has been instrumental in tailoring programs to fit the needs of various communities, and subsequently evaluating those programs to ensure that they meet goals and standards. Most recently, Nick was the Mental Health therapist at Centennial High School in Fort Collins, CO. He has been a psychotherapist for 7 years, and specializes in adolescent populations. He has worked extensively with the National Hispanic Institute for 15 years, serving initially as a junior volunteer and currently as a senior staff member and senior alumnus. Through his work with the National Hispanic Institute, Nick has worked closely with thousands of high school students in helping develop initiatives to prepare them for leadership in the 21st century. Nick has conducted peer-reviewed research on risky behavior, anger, anger expression, and aggression, and has been previously recognized for his work by the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association. Nick has also done research on psychological trauma and its effects on cognition and interpersonal relationships. He has been invited on numerous occasions to give special lectures on trauma, co-dependency, ethnic identity, and social conflict.
A cum laude graduate of the College of Natural Sciences at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, Nick holds a degree in Psychology. He additionally holds a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University, and is currently a doctoral candidate there.
As I have noted in previous articles, we as human beings tend to grossly overestimate our ability to make decisions. Most of us like to believe that our intellect, our experiences, and our perceived expertise lead us to make rational and well-informed decisions. However, decades of research paint a much different picture. As it turns Read More
There are few things that upset me more than witnessing rampant homelessness and systemic poverty. The lives of those who experience such injustices are marked by desolation, despair and a near constant feeling of embarrassment. Worse yet, such individuals are often dismissed, disparaged or marginalized by those of us who are fond of attributing their Read More
By now, most of you have become familiar with the random act of kindness displayed by one of New York’s finest. NYPD Officer Larry DePrimo was captured in a heartwarming photograph taken by a tourist, a photo that showed the officer giving a homeless, barefoot man a newly purchased pair of insulated boots and socks. Read More
“There is also this to be said. It is immoral to use private property in order to alleviate the horrible evils that result from the institution of private property. It is both immoral and unfair…. The proper aim is to try and reconstruct society on such a basis that poverty will be impossible.” – Oscar Read More
“The case against intellect is founded upon a set of fictional and wholly abstract antagonisms. Intellect is pitted against feeling, on the ground that it is somehow inconsistent with warm emotion. It is pitted against character, because it is widely believed that intellect stands for mere cleverness, which transmutes easily into the sly or the Read More
I have sleep apnea, and I am not alone. Sleep apnea is a very common type of sleep disorder, in which over the course of a night, a person experiences involuntary, interrupted breathing or very shallow breaths. These breathing pauses last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, and can occur up to Read More
In a few of my earlier articles, I have used my experiences as a mental health therapist to allude to a topic that deserves a greater amount of attention. There is a growing crisis in the U.S. Latino community with respect to our mental health practices. This is an area of heavy research, so I Read More
I would like to take you all on a journey today, a journey into the mind of a psychotic individual. Let us first begin by defining what exactly the term psychotic means, given that it is often misused in popular discourse. Clinically, the term psychotic is used to refer to an individual who is actively Read More
Those of you familiar with my writings will recall that a little over a year ago, I published an article on the nature of anti-intellectualism. Among the five characteristics I discussed, one such characteristic deserves further attention: the belief that personal opinions hold equal or greater weight compared to systemic research and data. This fallacy Read More
There are many things in life that occur with near universal certainty. One of those is our propensity to experience irrational fear. When irrational fears dominate public and political discourse, lasting painful legacies are often left in their wake. We have been down this road before with the state of Arizona, most notably with their Read More