Well, we have already gone over a number of issues in the previous classes, which raises a concern. “What can we actually do in this scenario where we consider the individualization of work practices, illnesses, forms of health and illness that are being formulated, formatted, and experienced in the current context? ” Unfortunately, there is no formula.
I wish we could point out exactly what we can do to improve the disorders, difficulties, suffering, and illness at work. But although we don't have a formula, we have some possible paths. These paths include recovering, for example, the emancipatory dimension of work, the meanings of work, and solidarity networks.
I'm not talking about solidarity as something that is only in the world of ideas, but the sharing of experiences, the discussion of the illness process itself, of the symptoms that this brings, but especially include workers. I say this because it's no good just thinking about it. It is important that health interventions and policies include workers' health, and that mental health is not distanced from considering workers' experiences, knowledge, and suffering.
I would like to ask all of you who are watching this video, to share this content, to be present in the next modules, and that, if we have doubts, that we can discuss and talk about it too. I want to close this introduction by pointing out that talking about collective work, understanding what a collective can do, and the strength that a collective has, is also pointing out that the more we know about work and workers, the more we will also strengthen a sense of freedom to carry out our work, but not a freedom that is distant or that cannot be prescribed. This is not what we are talking about.
We are saying that to the extent that people realize the importance of what they do collectively, they will also recover some meaning in their work. It is not naturalizing and considering inevitable an oftentimes painful reality to which the working class must conform, and understand that those who know about the work are those who perform the work, but that we, who are here thinking and studying, can blend this knowledge with the experience of the workers. Therefore, if everything changes all the time in the world, it is also necessary to promote this change on a daily basis, in the practices we carry out.
For example, I am a psychologist and a teacher. You, watching me now, maybe you are a police officer, or you might be a salesperson, or a health professional, like a doctor, or any other number of possibilities. There are numerous forms of work and nomenclatures that we can use.
How have the collective values in your professional class been established? How can we understand that there are support tools among workers? How can we formulate, as health workers, support lines for workers in general and for our own class?
Thus, people with greater knowledge are able to better understand that work relationships are as important as the work product. They also tend to help and share forms and means of solidarity helping to generate meaning in work. And that’s it for now.
