The Therapeutic Residential Service (SRT) is a deinstitutionalization strategy part of the Psychosocial Care Network (RAPS) in Brazil and is an instrument that contributes to the recovery of citizenship of mental health patients. The aim of the present study was to learn about how SRT residents in a city of the state of São Paulo understand “health” and “health care”. This was a qualitative study that used narrative focus groups and included ten residents. According to them, health means being happy and feeling pleasure, and health care goes beyond the actions of the different RAPS points of care. Their care network includes different spaces for social exchanges in commercial, leisure and cultural facilities. In conclusion, the actions of healthcare professionals must serve to re-signify roles and mediate social, contractual and power relationships in order to realize new plans for life in the city, constituting itself as a project for happiness.
Deinstitutionalization; Therapeutic residences; Mental health services; Mental health; Psychiatric reform