Who we are

The road to get here was long: Since childhood Maria Fernanda has been involved in initiatives for the care of others, together with her family. First it was with her paternal grandmother and mother, and later with her mother-in-law and friends, different generations of women who bet on care. But something always bothered her; repeatedly putting out fires year after year wasn’t enough and this social investor felt impotent facing structural problems that created such demand for basic necessities.

When she realized that none of the social sectors that received investment prioritized the subjectivities of the groups being cared for, that is, who they are, what they feel and how they relate to the world based on their own successes and frailties, our founder had identified a gap: how can you understand someone without understanding their mental health?

She knew it would be impossible to raise educational levels, improve performance on the job, reduce violence, increase access to healthcare and many other basic necessities, without taking into account that the protagonist of this whole story is the individual. That was when she started this pioneering work with mental health in Brazil. This work becomes more essential every day because of its omnipresence in all facets of life; undeniably, mental health is everywhere. Around here we say that mental health is everybody’s business, and it is everywhere, though sometimes silently.

Since then, we have been working tirelessly to promote this debate in all areas of society and we have consolidated our choice of which groups to prioritize to maximize the impact: working with adolescents’ and women’s mental health is potentially transforming and all of society benefits.

As part of the effort to base our work on evidence and data, one of our first steps was to form a strong partnership with the Veredas Institute to prepare and publish a first-ever report on the pathways to working with mental health in Brazil. We presented an overall panorama of the field around the world, with the main approaches, necessities, opportunities and strategies, and we mapped some of the pathways and main gaps in the area.

In the foreword, we had the honor of having two voices who work side by side in mental health and who represent so many of the other voices in this field, reinforcing our belief that by combining knowledge and vision we will go further.

Since then, we have increased our work on projects that impact mental health structurally, joining forces with civil society, government and the private sector.

We believe that, with the diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, generations and ecosystems building the mental-health narrative, we will be closer to making the cultural change we want and need for a future that is both healthier and possible. We will keep working continuously and permanently to make a positive impact on mental health in Brazil.