Who opens the paths in the ethnopsychological clinic?

Abstract

This study aims to reflect on the native conditions for the construction of the ethnopsychological clinic in a religious context. This is a qualitative case study developed in a terreiro located in the city of Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo. It was in this terreiro that, from 2013, a space was created for the provision of individual psychotherapeutic care by a psychotherapist who also conducted research on mediumship in this community. These services began to be organized according to the demands expressed by mediums and regulars of the terreiro. In this report, we work with the category of opening of paths, assuming that certain conditions allowed the construction and consolidation of the offer of psychological support using the structure of the terreiro and aimed at mediums and regulars of this ritual space. Among these conditions, the encouragement and direct action of the father of saint stands out, publicizing the existence of the service and promoting informal referrals for the services from his close contact with the community, in addition to the mentions, brought by the assisted clients, regarding the permission of the entities of that sacred place, consenting with the psychological support carried out there. These conditions are tensioned as native categories, presupposing the need to listen and address them in the happening of the ethnopsychological clinic.