Viva Infância Institute

The Viva Infância Institute is an OS (Social Organisation), an entity belonging to the third sector of the economy, with public and non-profit purposes. It is composed of a multidisciplinary team with clinical experience that operates on the premise that ‘the individual is constituted in their relationship with the Other.’ The scope, rationale and objectives of the Viva Infância Institute are based on compliance with the Statute of the Child and the Legal Framework for Early Childhood.

The Viva Infância Institute’s work focuses on mental health care as part of comprehensive child care with the goal of social inclusion from birth to ten years of age. The Institute’s goal is to transform situations of suffering in the field of mental health, always from a contextualised clinical perspective, i.e., considering the social and cultural context of children and families.

Viva Infância seeks to raise awareness and train professionals in the child care network and share knowledge about the vulnerabilities experienced by children and their families. Among its main areas of work are 1) interdisciplinary clinical practice with children; 2) the Baby Clinic; and 3) the Class Workshop for autistic children.

The Institute’s mission is to promote childhood culture and work for the health of children in distress and their families. To this end, it acts as a sustainable centre of excellence in childcare and study and in the training of professionals.

Among its core values, the following stand out:

• Working to prevent the pathologisation and medicalisation of childhood, including specific attention to situations of racism and ableism;

• Transparency evidenced by clear disclosure in the application of resources, teaching methodologies and project management;

• Continuous updating and qualification in therapeutic care for assisted families;

• A collaborative spirit in institutional partnerships that fight for quality and children’s rights;

• A unique approach based on the belief that each situation requires a unique therapeutic project to be developed based on the specific conditions of each family and each context;

• Professional training in accordance with ethical and human criteria and the theoretical framework of psychoanalysis, as well as the promotion of culture in their training;

• Interdisciplinary work and co-participation of technical partners.