On 5 December, the MadresUP programme celebrated the graduation of 10 Latina mentor mothers in the Aula de Grado of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Seville, in an event that highlighted the processes of accompaniment, collective learning and community leadership developed throughout the project.
The participating mothers walked together for 12 sessions, in a formative process focused on the promotion of psychosocial well-being. This journey was accompanied and energised by four mentor mothers trained in a previous implementation of the project, who led the intervention, facilitated the group spaces and reinforced peer learning.
The active participation of these mentor mothers reaffirmed their community leadership, demonstrating that the MadresUP project is a space in which the mothers themselves become references, trainers and agents of change within their communities.
The event was attended by Virginia Paloma (CESPYD) and Sylvia Villalba (ECCA Social), who accompanied the closing of the training process and highlighted the importance of community leadership and peer support in the promotion of mental health. Luz Míriam Muñoz, Tatiana Ríos and Mariana Hernández (mentor mothers) led the event and shared a few words addressed to the graduates, highlighting the value of the path travelled and the collective learning. In addition, Wendy Mantilla, a mother who participated in the project, conveyed a message jointly constructed by all the mothers, reflecting the strength of the shared process and the sense of community generated throughout the sessions.
The graduation of these 10 mentor mothers represents a new step in the consolidation of MadresUP as an initiative that is committed to participatory intervention models, focused on collective care, strengthening support networks and recognising the experiential knowledge of women.
