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A key therapy blog
Thoughts, ruminations, recommendations from a mindfulness therapist. My life has been a mix of literary exploration, government work, and global education. My journey has taken me across the world—from working with street children in Romania to teaching in South Korea—before returning home to focus on crisis management and therapy.

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Poetry from the Plum Ruby Review
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, PLLC - A Key Therapy Three Poems from 2004 Plum Ruby Review, Summer Issue In the summer of 2004, I published three poems in Plum Ruby Review . I was living in Washington, DC, on the edge of entering an MFA program, politically charged, aesthetically restless, and deeply interested in how language could stretch—visually, ethically, bodily. These poems come from a time when I was less concerned with coherence and more interested in pressure : how an imag
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA
Jan 133 min read


The Proposal Isn’t the Problem—The Problem Is Everything Around It
Lex E Santí, LCSW, MFA – Founder, A Key Therapy LCSW, PLLC Every few years, the federal government finds a new way to remind us that the “helping professions” aren’t actually meant to be helped. The newest example is the U.S. Department of Education’s proposal to reclassify certain master’s programs — education, nursing, public health, social work — so that they are no longer considered “professional degrees” for federal student loan purposes. The Department of Education insi
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA
Nov 27, 20254 min read


Fifteen Books That Made Me
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA Books have been my most loyal companions. I’ve been reading since I was old enough to understand that the world was bigger than my family, bigger than the town where I grew up, bigger even than the United States. Books were my way out and my way in. They taught me how to live, how to argue, how to be tender. They’ve never once ghosted me, though I’ve been guilty of ignoring them. Below are fifteen that shaped me. Not in some linear list, not as a c
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA
Nov 24, 20256 min read


Literature Review: Acceptance and Motivation Inquiry
Literature Review Acceptance / Motivation Inquiry (AMI) Lex E Santí, LCSW, MFA Introduction Client engagement in psychotherapy is a...
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA
Sep 19, 202517 min read


Remembering Greg Eells, Six Years On
Reflection on Mourning in the Shadow of a Giant at Cornell By Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA On September 9, 2019, the Cornell community...
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA
Sep 8, 20253 min read


Query Letters, Rejection, and the Midnight Rider
A Field Guide to Agents, Queries, and Other Creative Punishments Lex E. Santi, LCSW, MFA At one point in its life, Song of the Midnight...
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA
Sep 3, 20254 min read


So You Want to Start a Private Practice? Here’s the Roadmap (2 of 2)
Beginning your private practice, step-by-step... It's been 6 years since I started my private practice and I love it. If the first part...
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA
Aug 29, 20253 min read


Why I Love Having a Private Practice (And Why You Might Too) (1 of 2)
A therapist’s joy in small rooms with big conversations Lex E. Santi, LCSW, MFA One of the wonderful things about becoming a therapist —...
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA
Aug 26, 20252 min read


Gatekeeping and Deportation
On Latinidad, fear, and who gets to belong I saw this meme recently — a hand-drawn fortress surrounded by moat after moat, each layer...
Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA
Aug 21, 20254 min read
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