Lex Enrico Santí

Lex Enrico Santí, LCSW, MFA (He/Him, They/Them) is a therapist at Cornell Health, Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS). In this role, he supports students as they navigate the demands of academic life, identity, and belonging, offering therapy, consultation, and campus outreach.

Lex’s therapeutic approach is grounded in mindfulness, present-moment awareness, and narrative work. He helps students slow down enough to hear their own inner language, understand the cycles that shape emotion and behavior, and reconnect with a sense of choice and meaning. His style centers compassion, clarity, and curiosity, weaving in his Acceptance Motivation Inquiry (AMI) framework to support engagement and sustainable change.

As the son of Cuban refugees who fled the island in 1960, Lex brings a lived understanding of migration, cultural complexity, and the layered work of identity. He has lived in five countries and traveled to more than forty, collecting stories, perspectives, and the ability to say “thank you” in over thirty languages. These experiences shape his commitment to students navigating questions of culture, belonging, family history, and internal conflict.

Lex is also a published writer whose path has been anything but linear. He has authored four books of poetry, a collection of short stories, a nonfiction book, and a forthcoming novel. His writing life informs his clinical work, offering students a way to explore their narratives with nuance, honesty, and imagination.

Outside of his professional life, Lex can be found wandering trails with his family, developing workshops on mindfulness and anxiety, scribbling in a notebook at odd hours, or cooking meals that bend the recipe rather than follow it. He is the co-founder of A Key Therapy, a mindfulness-centered practice, and continues to refine the AMI model through research and collaboration.

Lex values being an LLC Fellow because it creates space for authentic connection, shared reflection, and a community where students can explore who they are and who they are becoming.