Christianna O., MRes

R2R Film School Wellness Lead + Therapeutic Art Lead

As RAW’s Film School Wellness Lead, Christianna co-leads the Real 2 Real program and acts as the Therapeutic Art Lead at Thurgood Marshall Middle School. Christianna earned a BA in Art Therapy from Emmanuel College. She then went on to study multicultural art therapy through the Masters of Research in Fine Arts & Humanities program at Royal College of Art (RCA), the world's leading post-graduate arts and design school. She holds experience running art therapy groups in psychiatric and residential settings as a Mental Health Counselor. 

Christianna’s work focuses on empowering the community through therapeutic art-making and other wellness-centered group approaches. Her research project (at RCA), “Creative Care”, was recognized for its merit by the American Art Therapy Association, as Christianna was selected to share her findings through an advanced half day practice course at the 54th Annual American Art Therapy Association Conference. The Creative Care Approach was created specifically as a mode of making therapeutic art more accessible to the Black (and BIPOC) community. In 2023, Christianna was awarded the Jim Consoli Video/Film Award as recognition for her contributions to the field of art therapy from the American Art Therapy Association through her short film, "A.P." (2023). Overall, Christianna’s work is grounded in themes of wellness, creative expression, mindfulness, representation, freedom, community and joyfulness. 

Christianna is a new member of the RAW team, as of November 2024.