Lucas B.

Lucas grew up between the harshness of the city of São Paulo (SP) and the silences at home. Raised by his mother, he learned early on to deal with absence and with the weight of responsibilities that often do not belong to childhood. During the pandemic, these pressures intensified. He was diagnosed with ADHD, went through deep emotional crises, and faced a loneliness that felt too big to fit inside his body. What he lacked in structure, he sought in words: in 9th grade, he wrote a slam poem about a boy who took his own life. When he finished the text, a question forcefully emerged — what if that boy were him?

From that abyss came an impulse for change. Drawing from his own experience and the pain he shared with so many other young people from the outskirts, Lucas understood that mental health was an urgent issue, yet invisible in peripheral communities. He decided to turn discomfort into action, and that is how Instituto Aristóteles [Aristotle Institute] was born — a social organization dedicated to promoting mental health and the development of young people from the periphery. The institute offers free psychological care, workshops, training events, educational campaigns, and operates both in person and online, expanding access for young people across different parts of Brazil.

Since 2022, more than 90 volunteers have been part of the organization, over 200 people have participated in in-person events, around 800 have been reached through online content, and more than 25 young people receive monthly psychological support. The numbers, however, are only a reflection of something deeper: the possibility for a young person to look at themselves and realize that their suffering is not weakness, but a call to changemaking. This is the perspective Lucas wants to expand.

In the coming years, he aims to train 200 leaders from peripheral communities, expand monthly care to more than 80 young people, and reach 5,000 people through awareness campaigns. More than that, he wants to prepare young people to occupy political decision-making spaces — chambers, councils, consortia — bringing with them mental health as an urgent issue and a fundamental right.

At the beginning of his journey, Lucas believed that leadership meant handling everything on his own. He tried to control every part of the process, afraid that something might slip out of his hands. But through listening and connecting with other youth, he learned the value of collective action. Today, Instituto Aristóteles is driven by a diverse team working in areas such as content, advocacy, design, diversity, and marketing.

By creating spaces for voice and autonomy, Lucas came to understand that the leadership that truly matters is not built on sacrifice, but flourishes through sharing. And it is in this way — listening and being listened to — that he continues, turning his own story into an instrument of healing and rebuilding for many others.