Family therapy and psychodrama in the public sector: a pioneering project

Abstract

This article describes the development of a training project to bring therapy and psychotherapy to the public health network. In 2015, a group led by the author met for a year to study the network of the Unified Social Assistance System and the Unified Health System and visit their institutions. In discussions at the XX Brazilian Congress of Psychodrama, in São Paulo (SP), Brazil, and the XII Brazilian Congress of Family Therapy, in Gramado (RS), Brazil, it was  found that the reality, at a national level, was a lack of psychotherapeutic resources in most of the networks. A project to train professional therapists for the public health network was presented to the Ministry of Health’s Mental Health Coordination, using as a justification the fact low-income population does not have its psychological treatment needs met, as determined by the Unified Health System, due to its principle of integrality. The project was released in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, and, in order to implement it, it was decided to change the proposal from face-to-face classes to distance learning. As determined by the Ministry of Health, this project was divided into two blocks: Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo, due to the high level of suicide, received training in psychodrama for psychologists and psychiatrists; the other block involved Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco and Ceará with family therapy, for professionals in the network with university training. The aim was to train 500 professionals. The project was carried out and was highly rated by all those involved, due to the excellent professional training achieved. The Ministry of Health has proposed continuing the project.