The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been recognized as causing a wide variety of behavioral health problems. Society must mitigate this impact by recognizing that COVID-19 can trigger people's fears of exacerbating an existing mental illness. A survey about COVID-19 for people with mental illness was developed.Methods: Two hundred fourteen people responded to the survey, of whom 193 self-identified as living with a mental illness.Results: Almost all participants living with a mental illness (98%) said they had at least one major concern regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, and 62% said they had at least three major concerns.

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic arrived at the United States, mental health services moved towards using tele-mental health to provide care. A survey about resilience and tele-mental health was developed and conducted with ForLikeMinds' members and followers. Correlational analysis was used to examine relationships between quantitative variables. A phenomenological approach was used to analyze open questions responses. Sixteen percent of participants were coping well with the pandemic; 50% were coping okay; and 34% said that they were coping poorly. Three main themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: accessibility to care; self-care strategies; and community support and relationship. The responses from participants seems to reflect the combination of two main factors-the challenges they were facing in accessing care through tele-mental health plus the mental health consequences from COVID-19. This survey reflects the importance of building innovative strategies to create a working alliance with people who need care through tele-mental health.

Citizenship is emerging as one of the world’s leading models to shift mental health care from artificial psychiatric settings into more natural community settings by incorporating human rights. This paper describes a four-session roundtable series entitled Citizenship, Social Justice, and Collective Empowerment: Living Outside Mental Illness. These roundtables were part of the New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network (MHTTC). They were built on the conviction that people who have lived experiences of mental health challenges and engaged in making community connections should be at the center of teaching about those experiences. Presenters shared their experiences about how they navigated stigma and discrimination on their way to community inclusion, belonging, and empowerment. The common theme across the series was the citizenship framework. The citizenship framework has inspired people to become involved in an individual and collective dynamic experience that connects them with the 5R’s of rights, responsibilities, roles, resources, relationships, and a sense of belonging in society. The outcomes from the discussion on the webinars demonstrated that peer support could be a promising intervention to increase the sense of belonging in the community. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11126-021-09968-x.

El objetivo de este artículo es describir el proceso de implementación y el funcionamiento de un grupo de oyentes de voz, pacientes diagnosticados de esquizofrenia, en un servicio de salud mental en Brasil. Es un relato de experiencia. Este grupo fue creado en 2015 y tiene lugar en un Centro de Atención Psicosocial (CAPS) en la ciudad de Ribeirão Preto - São Paulo, Brasil. Es un grupo abierto, con periodicidad semanal, de una hora de duración, siendo un espacio donde las personas pueden hablar libremente de sus vivencias con las voces. Participan en los encuentros personas que escuchan voces, sus familiares, profesionales y estudiantes del área de salud. En los encuentros grupales se comparten los significados atribuidos a la experiencia, se utilizan estrategias para afrontar situaciones más desafiantes, experiencias de sufrimiento y superación. El grupo también se constituye como una herramienta para construir vínculos y redes de apoyo, además de ser un espacio de encuentro de historias de vida. Así, el grupo ha ofrecido la posibilidad de nuevos diálogos, nuevos significados y posiciones respecto a la audición de voces, siendo considerado como un espacio de respeto y reciprocidad para los oyentes de voces. Siguiendo los supuestos del Movimiento de Oyentes de Voz, se presenta como una innovación para la atención en los servicios de salud mental.

No abstract

Background: Brazilian immigrants are becoming a more visible minority and, although different from other Latinos (in a linguistic, cultural, historical, and ethnic sense), are usually either counted as Latinos, not included in the Latino samples or simply overlooked in research studies. It is essential to understand the stress and pressures they undergo and appreciate their singular perspective and culturally-infused experiences to meet their needs and improve their mental healthcare and quality of life in the United States. Aim: The aim of this review is to understand and describe the experience of Brazilian immigrants in the U.S., related to mental health, assessing what studies have addressed and what is still needing to be researched. Method: We carried out an integrative review of peer-reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2022 using PychInfo, PubMed, and Proquest, addressing mental health of Brazilian immigrants in the United States. Results: A total of 10 articles were included revealing the interest of a variety of fields and uncovering three themes: (1) mental healthcare needs (especially warmth and understanding of culture), (2) common sources of support and stress in the community and work, and (3) Socioeconomic aspects related to their mental health, including discrimination, work-life balance, neighborhood cohesion, and acculturation. Conclusions: Results may be useful to practitioners, researchers, and policy makers, who should be attentive to client’s familiarity with the English language, their sources of support, spirituality, specific Brazilian traits, their feeling of ‘being invisible’, life in community, and their previous experiences with healthcare in Brazil.

No abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe six recovery-oriented peer support experiences and strategies implemented in different regions of Brazil in the past 12 years, and explore challenges to their development and potential for empowerment and citizenship. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a group of stakeholders in mental health services involving people with lived experience of severe mental illness describe their experiences with services of peer support. These were all conducted in Brazil and in partnership with the International Recovery and Citizenship Collective (IRCC) and The Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health. The authors met monthly to exchange experiences, studies and practices, and six experiences were selected, described, analyzed and compared. A discussion of these experiences, their challenges, impact and potential followed. Findings The explored experiences emphasize that peer support, lived experience leadership and advocacy are feasible in the Brazilian mental health system and can help advance the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform. Research limitations/implications This paper is limited to the experience of researchers already engaged in peer support work in six cities in Brazil. Although they represent several different regions in Brazil, there are areas it has not reached. Further research should address and provide a broader view of peer support and recovery strategies spreading in the country. Social implications These experiences demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of the recovering citizenship approach to reduce stigma, promote empowerment, autonomy, activism and advocacy, and increase a sense of belonging for those in recovery and marginalized by society. The Brazilian psychiatric reform can benefit from including peer supporters as mental health treatment providers. Originality/value This paper provides a novel view of the state of the art of peer support initiatives in Brazil and can inspire individuals, government and communities as they see and understand the breadth, depth and meanings of these peer support experiences.