Abstract

BARROS, Luiza Fernandes  and  MELO, Walter. Care and Circus Arts: The circus in the daily life of a mental health institution. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2019, vol.19, n.3, pp. 623-643. ISSN 1808-4281.

This article aims to understand some resonances of the practice of circus activities in the everyday life of a mental health institution, from the insertion in a Center for Psychosocial Care Alcohol and other Drugs, a substitute service to the asylum logic, based on psychosocial attention and territorial actions. In this sense, the work opposes to the biomedical model, establishing reflections on the circus practices from the notions of care, social circus and live work in act. The circus meetings were based on techniques of juggling, acrobatics and balancing, through which they were consolidated affective relationships, cooperation and mutual care. Affection was shown as one of the pillars of the activities, through which relations of exchange, complicity and trust were established, as well as making possible technical evolutions. Fieldwork, seized through participant observation, field journals, photographs, filming and semi-structured interviews, provided a point of reference and reflection of a series of resonances of the practice of circus arts in a mental health institution, being dealt with in this article: the risk/safety relationship, technical evolution and care.

Keywords : circus; care; CAPS; psychosocial attention; circus arts.

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