The role of subjectivity for understanding collaborative dialogue and cultural productions of teachers in international schools

This chapter discusses the relevance of the theory of subjectivity for simultaneously advancing research and professional practices in mental health care. The context of such a discussion is the emerging challenges of the Brazilian psychiatric reform. Based on the constructive-interpretive methodology, this discussion is underpinned by the results of original research addressing the professional team of a Brazilian community mental health service. The researcher participated in several daily activities of the service, which allowed the creation of an authentic bond with the professionals. Dialogue is discussed as a key device for the epistemological and methodological frameworks that sustain this approach. It implies the creation of relational spaces in which individuals emerge as active agents, expressing themselves through speech, gestures and postures in a subjectively engaged way. In this perspective, theoretical construction is simultaneous with the therapeutic process, both being grounded on an ethics of the subject as well as oriented towards the articulation of mental health, education and subjective development. Theory is a process in permanent development, which feeds and is fed by new domains of practices.