The text describes a group experience in education in health carried out in a family health unit in Joinville, state of Santa Catarina, in which an attempt was made to cover issues that were relevant to that population's health. The approach was experienced by five students and an undergraduate professor of Nursing from the Associação Educacional Luterana Bom Jesus/Ielusc, in 2005. Education in health in groups allowed us to put the teaching acquired in the Collective Health III class into practice. The activity focused mainly on getting all of the professionals, the students and the users of the health system present there involved and participating with their knowledge and experience. We approached issues related to diabetes mellitus and systemic arterial hypertension, with emphasis on diet. During the activity, we sought to adapt the materials and the language to the users' reality. The activity began with speeches made by the participants to discuss changes in habit to improve quality of life. As reflections, we believe that working with preestablished popular knowledge and culture requires caution, persistence, patience, and professional motivation; respecting them and, above all, developing listening skills. To us, the opportunity was to learn and to teach.
systemic arterial hypertension; diabetes mellitus; nursing; education in health