Yuhana Nashmi

Yuhana Nashmi is STARTTS’ Senior Clinical Group Counsellor / Project Officer, a Multidisciplinary Artist and Clay Field Therapist. He is a qualified social worker with a postgraduate degree in social work and over 25 years’ experience in the human services sector, specialising in work with individuals and families from refugee and trauma-impacted backgrounds. As a survivor of wars and persecution, Yuhana brings a lived understanding of displacement, loss, and recovery, which profoundly informs his work with communities rebuilding their lives after trauma. He has extensive experience supporting refugees and asylum seekers in Australia and internationally, integrating culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and somatic-based approaches into his practice.

A multidisciplinary artist, Suicide Prevention Trainer and trained Clay Field Therapist, Yuhana uses clay/art as a medium for healing, connection, and cultural expression. In his current role as Senior Clinical Group Counsellor and Project Officer at STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors), he leads creative, body-based, and group therapy interventions that bridge clinical and community contexts.

Yuhana’s professional interests include group therapy and embodied therapeutic practices, with a particular focus on collective trauma, suicidality, cultural resilience, and recovery in displaced communities. Through initiatives such as When the Hands Speak, Clay Tiles of Connection, and the Shingal Community Garden, he explores how the act of making can restore agency, belonging, and meaning—transforming trauma into shared narratives of resilience and hope.