Psychology professionals have been playing important roles in the setting of Brazilian mental healthcare ambulatories since 1980s. However, the services offered by these centers still represent a challenge to the consolidation of psychiatric reform. Added to this, there is a wide form of treatment of these issues by Brazilian policy, which provide a variety of models between the ambulatories. This study was conducted with psychologists, workers of mental healthcare ambulatories in Aracaju-SE, and aimed investigate their practices, challenges and limits. It was done a documental analysis, and interviews with a semi-structured instrument. It was found a predominance of the traditional clinical settings, with pertinent adjustments in the professional posture for dealing with users of these services, and lack of interdisciplinary actions. The main challenges identified were the strengthening of professional networking, plus the need of sharing responsibility with other professional groups for mental health care.
psychologist practice; mental healthcare ambulatories; psychiatric reform; substitute services; semiestrutured interviews