Natalia Moreno, director and founder of Red Expressarte, speak with LA PATRIA Radio about his nomination for Titanes Caracol in the Health and Wellness category. This he said:
You are a business administrator and social worker. How do you merge those two worlds?
My income depends on the administration, but my passion depends on the work I do. Over the years, my expertise in mental health increased. I am a business consultant and through consulting I managed to reach mental health as well.
I am part of the non-profit mental health Funpaz IPS and I am doing both things there. We are helping people. We use the social model with Red Expressarte, but the administrative issue also comes into play.
What has the trajectory of the project been like?
When we were born we were very criticized because I am very divergent. The logo is very strong and was criticized within the administrative sphere.
Then, when we launched an innovative proposal on the market, long before the whole virtual issue was born, we were the first to attend to those psychological first aid lines, we created support groups and in Colombia they did not believe in that model.
Today we are in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and we serve patients from Spain, the United States and Canada.
Then came the pandemic. At that time everyone invented psychological first aid lines and, by then, the Pan American Health Organization already knew about us.
The last peak is the one we are currently experiencing, where everyone does what we do and it seems like we don’t have anything different, but we find that we do because the practice is more given to love and not so much to offer. Although we do not receive support at this time from anyone.
Since what year have you been operating?
I started supporting a project in the Territorial Health of Caldas, in Aranzazu, in 2016. There the idea was born with Juliana Gutiérrez, a co-worker. It was an in-person initiative. We formed a neighborhood group, but we had very big aspirations, we didn’t want to stay there.
We decided to structure ourselves and registered with the Chamber of Commerce so that the process was legal and the tour was registered. That was in 2019, but we have been working since 2016.
We have not done public contracting and that in some way has also been something positive to say that what we do, we do it alone.
What advice would you give, from the history of the organization, to mayors or governorates, so that they can provide better care?
We belong to the municipal and regional Mental Health Committee. Any advice we give, we have already given there.
In the Assembly we did the analysis and we realized that public policy includes everyone. The policy is well structured, but they are not taking these proposals to the streets and they have everything to do so.
The committee does develop articulated activities, we participate, but the fact that they do not have recognition of your work makes you not want to continue helping.
How many professionals are there in Red Expressarte?
More or less 36 people. I have professionals who have been with us for around 5 or 6 years, as well as patients who have been with us for 5 years.
Listen to the full interview here:
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