What happens when the production of knowledge in mental health breaks through academic barriers and is built alongside those who live in the territory and experience psychological suffering on a daily basis? This is the central proposal of the Rede Entrepares, presented during a session of the Center for Studies of the Institute of Psychiatry of the UFRJ (IPUB).

At the meeting, researcher Leonardo Palmeira and professor Maria Tavares Cavalcanti received remotely the Mozambican psychiatrist Dirceu Mabunda (General Hospital of Mavalane/Maputo) to detail this pioneering transatlantic cooperation between Brazil and Mozambique. The initiative brings together communities from Rio de Janeiro (Rocinha and Complexo do Alemão) and Maputo in a decolonial and participatory action research focused on psychosocial care.

During the presentation, the researchers explain how the project empowers people with lived experience of psychosis, family members, and community leaders to act as community researchers in their own communities. The audience learns in detail about the innovative research methodology, which includes seminars, group discussions, trialogical meetings in open dialogue with healthcare professionals, Rapid Participatory Diagnosis stages in the communities, and the co-authorship of the results between the university and the community.

If you work in the SUS or the SNS of Mozambique, study public health, or want to learn practical ways to build a horizontal, anti-institutional, and truly popular science, this debate is not to be missed.

Related articles:

Decolonizing the gaze: why mental health in the Global South needs a popular science Bridge over the ocean: how popular science can transform mental health in Mozambique. When the community takes control of mental health. Mental health and decoloniality: for an antimanicomial struggle in Brazil.