[Developing people: teaching strategies to promote self-knowledge in nursing education]

This is a study elaborated on the basis of the course Mental Health-I, about the nurse formation through self-knowledge motivation. The goals were, to reflect about self-knowledge as a tool in the nurse formation and to analyze didactic strategies to facilitate its development. The data was collected during the course using written registers, self-evaluation and course evaluation. Results showed that the student has the opportunity to develop her/his self-knowledge given that some teaching techniques stimulate the contact with personal issues, facilitating the discovery of potentiality for the professional practice. We concluded that the course has been playing a fundamental role in the nurse education.