Hello Mental Health and Community: The Value of Citizenship

Around these four central axes, rich contributions were made regarding the construction of health, the city as a public space in which to exercise social citizenship as an adventure of freedom, the vision and actions for the promotion of mental health from the perspective of public health, and finally, analyzing the impact of globalization and the crisis on citizenship rights. 

In close consonance with the topics discussed, the Congress paid tribute to Agustí de Semir, a lawyer and great humanist whose exquisite treatment of everyone was highlighted, a staunch democrat and a great fighter for the recognition of rights for all citizens.

Likewise, the memorial focused on a social worker who had tirelessly dedicated her life to defending, in particular, the rights of vulnerable people suffering from some type of mental disorder: Rosa Roca i Soriano. 

Another feature of her profile was that she had always championed markedly interdisciplinary work. In preparing her tribute to present the memorial, colleagues participated who bore witness to this complementarity of disciplines; we especially want to highlight the active participation of Roser Perez-Simó, with whom she had worked together for a long time, who was honored at the 5th Congress and who, unfortunately, is no longer with us.

However, it should be noted that this Congress placed special emphasis on the role of social work professionals, since on that occasion the Official College of Social Work of Catalonia was leading its organization. Each of the first four congresses was organized on a rotating basis by the various sponsoring colleges. 

From that congress onwards, this changed, and its organization became more choral and interdisciplinary on the part of all the disciplines represented in the Foundation.

To finish, it is worth recalling one of the last words spoken by Alain Touraine at the closing of the congress, when he told us: Human rights have no other foundation than the rights of human beings to build their lives and social relations based on the fundamental requirement of being free, that is, giving priority to an image of themselves that dominates social determinants. Surely now, eleven years later, we can also make them our own.