“Everyone is Hungry for Dignity”: A Qualitative Study of Parenting in a Community Mental Health Center in Brazil

When a child experiences a mental health condition, parents are shaped by both social factors and the child’s unique challenges. In Brazil, systemic inequities often result in exclusion and limited access to care. This study explores effective community strategies within the Projeto Quixote, a Centro de Atenção Psicossocial (CAPS), which provides multidisciplinary care targeting the psychological and social dimensions of health. A reflexive thematic analysis was conducted on ten semi-structured interviews with parents of children (n = 10) receiving care at Projeto Quixote in São Paulo. Two key themes were identified: (1) obstacles to parenting, such as isolation and exhaustion, and (2) parents’ coping strategies, including the use of Quixote support to reshape their identity and foster hope. These themes highlight a transformative process: initial distress gives way to empowerment as parents engage with Quixote services, gaining insights into their role and their child’s potential. Central to this process is the restoration of dignity, as parents move from stigma and isolation toward recognition, belonging, and agency in their child’s care. These findings suggest that community mental health care is most effective when it addresses not only clinical needs but the social and relational conditions that sustain both distress and healing. Parents of children with psychiatric conditions face isolation, exhaustion, and stigma across socioeconomic backgrounds. Community mental health care can transform parental distress into empowerment through dignity-centered approaches. Family support groups at Projeto Quixote helped parents reshape their identity and foster hope for their child. Treating parents as active partners is central to effective community mental health care. Dignity in mental health care is relational practice that sustains healing.