Não te julgo, te ajudo: uma etnografia do Projeto HELP da Força Jovem Universal na cidade de Manaus/AM

Abstract

This ethnographic research aims to thoroughly describe the activities of the HELP Project of the Universal Youth Force, the youth group of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. The objective of the work is to understand the partnership between the HELP Project and the Department of Education (SEDUC/AM) as a possible response to addressing the problems occurring in the school context related to the mental health of young people and adolescents. The starting point for this investigation was my unease with the measure adopted by the school management after the suicide attempt of a young girl at CETI Áurea Pinheiro Braga, where I was working as a teacher. From this experience, two central issues were mobilized: mental health as a field of disputes and the debate on secularism in the educational space. To support the analysis on mental health, I used the works of Pedro Bicalho (2022) and Sérgio Carrara (2015); for the debate on secularism, I used the studies of Diniz, Lionço, and Carrião. (2010). To problematize everyday practices in the school, I based my reflections on Educational Writings (Bourdieu, 2023), and to locate the practices within field research at the Universal Church, I seek the concepts of Prosperity Pedagogy (Teixeira, 2018; 2021) and Engaged Members (Reis, 2018).