Nico Santamorena

Nico Santamorena (she/they) is currently an Art Therapy Master's student at NYU in her final semester. They are a multimedia artist and writer in addition to their studies, creating works depicting their lived experience with mental illness, disability, and LGBTQ+ identity. Nico has worked and volunteered in the mental health field for more than a decade, advocating for and supporting teens and young adults, LGBTQ+ populations, disability justice, and mental health education. Nico completed her undergraduate studies in cultural anthropology, focusing on new age spiritual practices as a form of community-based healing for LGBTQ+ individuals with trauma histories. Currently, she is completing her Master’s thesis on the role of shared identity between the art therapist and client in the progression of mindfulness-based art therapy with an autistic client. Nico highly endorses the incorporation of DBT and mindfulness-based practices and hopes to promote the benefits of DBT-informed art therapy across disciplines.