Mental Health’ emancipatory practices

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the power of actions and services in the field of mental health within the Brazilian public health system, aiming to promote emancipatory practices, especially in the context of setbacks experienced with the current New National Policy on Mental Health, which opposes to the precepts of the Psychiatric Reform. Anchored in theoretical elements about emancipation, the sociology of absences and the sociology of emergencies, we discuss mutual help and support groups, voice ombudsmen groups, social centers and solidarity economy initiatives, which aim to overcome the logic of the monoculture of knowledge, valuing the knowledge of users and adopting horizontalized and self-managed practices. Such experiences need to be systematized, experienced and multiplied so that the development of care networks with emancipatory potential is possible.