Representatives from six universities were at Unicamp for the 1st Mental Health Seminar at Public Universities in the State of São Paulo. The event arose from the institutions' concern with the mental suffering of the academic community and involved lectures and discussions about this scenario. The objective was to share experiences and propose solutions that contribute to the well-being of students, staff and teachers.
Participating in the meeting were: State University of Campinas (Unicamp), University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo State University (Unesp), Federal University of ABC (UFABC), Federal University of São Carlos (Ufscar) and Federal University of São Paulo ( Unifesp).
At the opening of the event, the rector of Unicamp, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, pointed out that the deepening difficulties during the pandemic period had a major impact on the health of the academic community, especially students. He also highlighted that inclusion policies have been changing the profile of the university and need to be accompanied by attention to mental health, in addition to pedagogical and financial support.
“[Mental health] is essentially important for students. Inclusion is our biggest challenge and will have an extremely significant impact on the country. We need to make this completely right.”
According to Meirelles, to maintain this project, it is necessary, in addition to the efforts of universities, to take to the federal and state governments the demand for strengthening permanence policies, including mental health care and financial support, which has been affected by drastically in federal institutions.
The opening table also included the head of the Department of Psychiatry at Unicamp, Heloisa Helena Celeri, the pro-rector of Inclusion and Belonging at USP, Ana Lucia Lanna, the coordinator of Occupational Health and Safety at Unesp, Ludmila Braga, the pro-tempore dean of Unifesp, Raiane Assumpção, the vice-rector of UFSCar, Maria de Jesus dos Reis, and the pro-rector of Undergraduate Studies at Unicamp, Ivan Toro.
Mental health and university
Psychiatrist and volunteer professor at Unesp José Manoel Bertolote gave the opening conference of the seminar, entitled Mental health at university, university mental health. The teacher, who was Coordinator of the Mental Disorders and Neurological Diseases Control Program dthe World Health Organization (WHO) for 19 years, explained the history of health definitions, indicating that physical, mental and social health are interconnected.
He also highlighted that the universities best ranked in the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking, one of the most prestigious in the world, are not those best ranked in the Health and Wellbeing ranking of the same organization. This shows, according to the psychiatrist, that there is a need for a greater connection between academic criteria and the health of members of the academic community.
Following the lecture, the table Well-being and suffering in universities, with professors Rosana Onocko (Unicamp), Miriam Debieux (USP) and Maria de Jesus dos Reis (UFSCar). The teachers focused on the mental health of the most vulnerable members of the academic community, addressing the need to recognize the value and culture of each person, to establish supportive relationships and to take into account that there is a relationship between rates of mental suffering and groups who suffer most from gender and racial violence.
Research carried out by Professor Reis with students from USP and UFSCar indicates that violence such as prejudice, verbal and sexual aggression explain 59% of cases of mental suffering. “Violence, disrespect and prejudice in social relationships have clearly been elements associated with mental suffering in institutions. We need to chart a course of social respect if we want to reduce this unseemly power of prediction that we are seeing”, assessed the teacher.
After the panel, seminar participants met in working groups that discussed mental health for students, faculty and staff. The objective was to share experiences and propose policies that contribute to the well-being of the academic community. A letter of intent is being drafted based on the discussion.
