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Nora Fernandez Fernandez
Last Friday, February 10, the Alcorcón campus hosted a conference-meeting to talk about love, sexuality and personal relationships. On the occasion of the celebration of Valentine's Day, this event is framed as an action to raise social awareness and fight against the stigma suffered by people with mental health problems.
The meeting, which lasted all Friday morning, was organized by the Manantial Foundation in collaboration with the Rey Juan Carlos University. Specifically, they have participated students and professors of the Degree in Occupational Therapy, together with professionals and people cared for in different facilities, managed by Fundación Manantial, of the Social Care Network for people with severe and long-term mental illness in the municipalities of Alcorcón, Fuenlabrada, Leganés and Torrejón de Ardoz.
"The main objective of this meeting has been to create a space for dialogue and reflection to address issues as important and profound as love, personal relationships and sexuality, beyond diagnoses and stigmas," said Jorge Pérez, professor of Occupational Therapy of the URJC and organizer of the event.
After a first introduction, in which the basic objectives pursued by this initiative were explained, the first round table took place. This has collected the work of various subgroups, each belonging to the different organizers of the event. Each team has reflected on the concept of love in its broadest sense and has commented on different personal texts, literary extracts, videos or songs to promote subsequent debate in four working groups formed among the attendees.
“Some of the key issues have been the importance of having spaces to talk about love and how these ties influence us in the construction of our life projects”, Pérez pointed out. The event also discussed romantic love, healthy relationships and toxic relationships, the value of communication, trust and humor within the couple, the influence of gender roles in the way of living affectivity and sexuality, taboos and the different ways of loving, understanding love and bonding between people.
The evaluation by the attendees, some 60 people, "was very positive and we hope to continue developing them over the next few years," Pérez pointed out.
This initiative arose as the culmination of several years of work. From 2016 to the present, the "Journeys of Mental Health: the voice of experience", which collects the testimonies of people with these problems and in February 2022 the I Conference "Let's Talk about Love" was held. In addition, as Pérez indicates, "in the Occupational Therapy in Mental Health subject we are encouraging students to design and put into practice actions to raise awareness and fight against stigma, through the Service Learning methodology." "I have always believed that the university should not be oblivious to the social problems of the community where it lives and, therefore, I consider it necessary to promote initiatives related to mental health, social awareness and the fight against the stigma suffered by people with problems mental health, from university social responsibility. From my point of view, the Faculty of Health Sciences should be a benchmark as an active health agent in the community", Pérez concluded.