Mental health, rights and citizenship: the law office as an agent for social inclusion

Abstract

The Psychiatric Reform discusses issues related to the inclusion of individuals that suffer from mental disorders, having as its main project the construction of citizenship through the reconstruction of their rights and recognizing that mentally ill individuals are in a condition of exclusion because of their very condition, the work and the social fragility. The Centro de Atenção Psicossocial Prof. Luiz da Rocha Cerqueira intends to interfere in the exclusion condition of mentally ill individuals through a number of projects, among them its Law Office, a social service agent that, by promoting alliances, offers to its users the possibility to reach higher and higher levels of management of their lives. The purpose of this study was to characterize the users of the Law Office and verify the importance of such intervention to them. Four users were interviewed and were asked to evaluate the service. They showed understanding of the fact that the service makes their insertion into the world of rights easier and therefore may be considered an important technology in mental health.