[Health education for the mentally ill: a first-hand account]

The account in this text refers to an effective health education project in a Mental Health post in Sao Paulo for which nursing department students are responsible. The belief in the mentally ill person conquering rights as citizens as well as understanding that the education may become the individual's most valuable emancipation tools were the starting point of the project. There was a short phase as well as a long one, both of which occurred in the weekly open group format to users and their family members, and whose characteristics were free participation, since the space was open for discussion and the exchange of both opinions and experiences. The themes were chronic illnesses, and those highlighted ones were mental illnesses, communicable diseases and chronic degenerative-illnesses.