This article seeks to contribute to the Psychiatric Reform, aiming at the analysis of one of its current challenges: the exercise of protagonism and social participation of mental health users. For this, it describes a research, methodologically based on the cartography method, supported by established spaces of participation in a Psychosocial Attention Center of a town in the western border of Rio Grande do Sul, using the following research tools: participant observation, field diary and interviews with managers, workers and users. Among its findings, the concept of collective indicated the power of a new participatory arrangement, capable of dealing with the notions of autonomy and protagonism, which acts as a breeding ground for the exercise of protagonism in mental health.
Mental health; Social participation; Public policies