At a time when our way of life has been affected by a pandemic, when we have been confronted by the numbers of lives lost, numbers of seriously ill, numbers of infections, the importance of mental health has come out of silence, shame, weakness and taboo.

The numbers of requests for help, of requests for psychiatric and psychological consultations, of families in despair, of students affected in their learning and evaluations, of children... "maladjusted"?

There was more talk about mental health because we were more effective at dealing with the virus than understanding what adaptations were necessary to survive without... going crazy.

We stayed at home but started working more. The household chores increased. We had more demands on the children again because in addition to the schools, the ATLs, the clubs, the music, the English class.

We didn't anticipate that dealing with this crisis implied questioning and changing the paradigm we are in. We did more than we had been doing and that was no longer good for health. For any of them.

We didn't realize that we needed a break.

Our goal, with this meeting, is to take a break from our routine, our tasks, our agenda and think about mental health, with a focus on our Academic Community, from students, to employees, to teachers and researchers.

Find out more about the Meeting here!

Rui Martins, Espaço S Psychologist and member of the Scientific Committee of the Meeting