[Beyond the madhouse walls: knowing the dynamics of the therapeutic residences]

This is a study with qualitative approach, whose objective was to look for the vision of professional's team about the experience of implantation of the Therapeutic Residences in the municipal district of Campina Grande, PB, Brazil. For data collection the systematic observation, field diary and a semi-structured interview were used, which was applied to 10 active professionals in the residences. As a result of content analysis of the interviews, the following analytical categories were identified: the several conceptions about the mental health; the daily activities in therapeutic residences; the difficulties found by the professionals in practice of the care; as well as the perspectives of those for the users.