Rema Maré, Mental Health Week in Maré
Since 2021, Rema Maré has established itself as a fundamental space to discuss mental health in favelas, promoting actions that combine culture, care and social mobilization.

Speaker at Rema Maré II
Based on the findings of the Building the Barricades: the Mental Health Impact of Violence in Rio’s Largest Favela research, People’s Palace Projects, in partnership with Redes da Maré, launched the first mental health awareness campaign in the Maré complex of 16 favelas in February 2021: Rema Maré. For a week, various cultural activities, debates, and interventions took place within the communities, fostering dialogues on mental health.
The program included a performance based on the Becos podcast, the creation of a tile mural, and the display of banners and posters across Maré’s favelas, featuring excerpts from Becos artists’ poems and data from the Building Bridges research. Additionally, the event featured video projections, discussion circles, outdoor cinema for children, art workshops, and the distribution of booklets containing information about the available mental health services in the area. All activities were centered on mental health, community, and culture.
As a result of this experience, Rema Maré became an annual event in Maré, and in 2024, it reached its third edition. The event is free and open to Maré residents, professionals and users of Brazil’s Psychosocial Care Network (RAPS), social organization workers, researchers, and students. With a diverse audience, Rema Maré has become a space for discussions on mental health in the favelas, covering issues such as rights violations, access to services, care models, and the reduction of stigma through various activities.
Rema Maré II
Participant of Rema Maré II
The second edition of Maré’s Mental Health Week took place in November 2022, expanding and strengthening dialogues on mental health, community, and culture. The event brought together professionals, public service providers, and residents through a partnership between People’s Palace Projects, Redes da Maré, and the Tide Setubal Foundation. That year, Rema Maré paid tribute to the legacy of Dr. Nise da Silveira and nurse and social worker D. Ivone Lara—key figures in the critique of institutional psychiatry in Brazil, who championed care in freedom and the use of art as a therapeutic tool.
Over six days, the program featured training sessions, cultural activities, discussion circles, roundtables, and workshops. Many of these activities were proposed and led by civil society groups selected through an open call.

Building on the work from the first edition, Rema Maré II launched the guide Psychological First Aid – Helping Those Who Help, Caring for Caregivers. This material deepened discussions previously introduced, offering new perspectives on mental health in the community, emphasizing Psychological First Aid, self-care, and mental health support for caregivers and helpers. Rather than focusing on diagnosis, the guide promoted a more compassionate and communicative approach.
As a follow-up to this material, two training sessions were held for professionals from Redes da Maré and workshop facilitators. The goal was to equip mediators, artists, and other participants with the tools to provide Psychological First Aid, offering compassionate support and guidance in mental health care.

Rema Maré III
Eliana Sousa Silva, founding director of Redes da Maré
Continuing the dialogue on mental health in Maré, the third edition of the Mental Health Week, Rema Maré III, took place in December 2024, furthering discussions on well-being and care in favela territories. The event was collaboratively designed with input from participants of Espaço Normal—a community reference center on drug-related issues in Maré—and local health professionals. Organized in partnership between Redes da Maré and People’s Palace Projects, it was funded by the Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ).
Leading up to the main event, Rema Maré III hosted preparatory activities, including two training sessions on Psychological First Aid – Helping Those Who Help, Caring for Caregivers, aimed at professionals from Redes da Maré, as well as a film screening and debate on Lima Barreto for visitors of Espaço Normal.
Brazil has a significant legacy of mental health care through art, pioneered by Nise da Silveira and continued by many other professionals. Rema Maré III builds upon this tradition, strengthening mental health discussions and fostering community-based care in favelas.
