The collective support network, a potential space for identity recovery: the nursing mother project

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of consequences arising from racism, discrimination and racial intolerance, which exist in the Brazilian socio-culture and affect the mental health of the black population. With this objective in mind, and based on Donald Winnicott's theoretical and clinical psychoanalytic concepts, it presents the idea that the exposure of black descendants to an environment such as the one offered by our socio-culture causes an excessive effort to maintain and feed the subjective field (Podkameni and Guimarães, 2004) that Winnicott (1975) called "potential space", which has a significant importance for mental health. The study presents and discusses the concept of traumatic conflictive situations in order to give visibility to this effort, which is not observable concretely, in view of its psychological nature. Through the Mãe-Criadeira (Nursing Mother) Project experience, developed in the communities of Vigario Geral and Parada de Lucas (Rio de Janeiro), and directed at black and non-black pregnant women, the idea of the Collective Support Network is presented as an intervention strategy, contributing to lessen the harmful effects of racism in this women population.