Voces y Trayectorias is an online series of public conversations with people who have played a meaningful role in shaping, implementing, or reflecting on processes of psychiatric deinstitutionalisation (DI) in different parts of the world, with an emphasis on Brazil, Chile and the rest of South America.
Hosted under the Transitions project—funded by the Wellcome Trust and led by Dr Cristian Montenegro (King’s College London) in collaboration with the Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, and the Escuela de Salud Pública, Universidad de Chile—the series offers a space to listen to, document, and connect diverse perspectives on reform.
The aim is to contribute to the renewed global conversation on psychiatric reform by bringing together:
- A historical lens, connecting past experiences and present challenges in mental health reform;
- Perspectives from the Global South, highlighting locally grounded approaches and their wider resonances;
- Insights from the social sciences, to expand how mental health systems and change are understood; and
- An attention to connections that cross national boundaries, recognising that ideas, practices, and challenges in deinstitutionalisation have always moved and been reinterpreted across contexts.
Each conversation explores both the personal and collective dimensions of reform: motivations, challenges, lessons learned, and reflections on the future of deinstitutionalisation.