SIMÕES, C. H. D.; FOLLADOR E AMBROSIO, F.; AIELLO-VAISBERG, T. M. J. “Dr. Artful”: the collective imaginary of mental health workers regarding the therapeutic accompanist. Proceedings of the 7th International, 8th Ibero-American, and 3rd Brazilian Congress on Therapeutic Accompaniment, 2012.
Abstract: Therapeutic Accompaniment can be practiced from different theoretical perspectives, which both enriches this field of work and raises issues related to professional training. This research aims to psychoanalytically investigate the collective imaginary of mental health workers regarding the therapeutic accompanist. We organized a collective interview centered around the Thematic Drawing-and-Story Procedure [D-E (T)] to facilitate the subjective expression of participants, who were mental health and education professionals attending a training course in therapeutic accompaniment. We obtained seven drawing end stories, which we psychoanalytically approached as communications of a single collective personality. We comprehensively produced three affective-emotional meaning fields: “Dr. Artful”, “Dr. Doer”, and “Dr. Thinker”, organized around beliefs that value 1) intuition and immediacy, 2) the fulfillment of routine activities, and 3) the pursuit of improvement, with notable emphasis on the first two. Indicating that some primary doubts and uncertainties remain unresolved within the group studied, the overall picture prompts reflections on the practice and on the processes of professional training.