The meaning of work for users of mental health services included in income generation projects linked or not to the movement of solidarity economy

Among the advances resulting from the process of the Psychiatric Reform in Brazil in 2004, apartnership was started between the Mental Health Technical Division of the Ministry of Health and the SolidarityEconomy National Secretary of the Ministry of Labor with the objective of promoting experiments of incomegeneration in the field of mental health. The purpose of the present study was to identify the meaning of labor tothe users of mental health services participating in projects of income generation, linked or not to the movementof solidarity economy. The qualitative research approach was adopted. The study comprised two subject groups,each one consisting of five users of mental health services participating in projects of income generation: onelinked to the movement of solidarity economy and the other not linked to this movement. Results show thataccording to the perception of the participants, labor promotes personal and social changes, constitutes a source for personal satisfaction, and stimulates the construction of life projects, in addition contributing to recuperationand making social and material exchanges possible. The participation of the mental health user in the solidarityeconomy movement is a rich experience, because it facilitates self-managed labor and promotes exchange ofsupport, affection and solidarity. It is believed that studies developed in that direction can provide subsidies tothe elaboration and implementation of public policies that promote the generation of work and income, creatingconditions for those people that find themselves in social disadvantage to be inserted or returned to the laborenvironment.