This content was translated with the support of translation tools and may contain inaccuracies for advanced speakers of the language. The purpose of this translation is to make the story accessible. If you identify any sentence that requires correction or improvement, please let us know.
It is not about creating a space for interaction, but a place that nurtures bonds. These are different things. A space can be built from concrete and walls, but a place is where people’s stories and affections circulate. Or, as Brazilian intellectual Milton Santos argues, “it is a space endowed with meaning and belonging, where human actions articulate with the local reality.”
Since June, Conexão Elos has been our invitation for adolescents from four partner territories to find, in each meeting, a safe place to be who they came to be in the world. We are not born ready; we are made along the way.
Steps That Come from Afar
Conexão was born in 2020, when the Elos Methodology first reached adolescents in partner territories of Baixada Santista. The program focused on developing potential, fostering a sense of belonging, and promoting active citizenship. Since then, the project has run five editions with over 160 participants. In 2025, Instituto Elos expanded this work.
With funding from the Municipal Fund for the Rights of Children and Adolescents – FUMCAD/SP, managed by the São Paulo Municipal Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents – CMDCA/SP, the program works with 60 adolescents at a time from four territories: Jardim São Manoel, Paquetá, Vila dos Criadores, and Morro Santa Maria. The program lasts 12 months, through 2026.
Giving Names to Things
There are many ways to create an environment that fosters personal development and encourages attentive listening to children and adolescents. All of them share a single, non-negotiable value: trust. This is the story told by Luany Godoy, one of the project facilitators.
“There is a socially imposed view that adolescents are closed off, quiet, or indifferent to others,” Luany begins. “But when you work with them, when you build bonds, you realize it’s not really like that.” She experiences this every day as she invites participants to engage in activities.
“There, you notice that a person may simply not have had a safe space to talk about their feelings, to express themselves. To make mistakes and learn from them,” she observes.
For Luany, a careful encounter with others and the world begins with a careful reconnection with ourselves. As a first step, participants name who they are, then what they know — what we call talents here. From there, they explore feelings and needs that often don’t have words yet. This is the moment in which they are learning to give names to things: emotions and necessities.
“Each territory requires a different approach to activities. In São Manoel, we started with a circle dance to the song Oração, inviting them to reflect on their feelings,” she recalls. The lyrics of Curitiba singer Léo Fressato provide a metaphor for the complexity of feeling, of holding so much that is not always spoken aloud:
“The heart isn’t as simple as you think
It holds what won’t fit in a pantry
It holds my love
Holds three whole lives
Holds a dresser
Holds the two of us”
After listening to the music and dancing, Luany explains, it was time to sit in a circle and share memories, linking them to the feelings of the moment. Feeling safe, participants shared openly.
“In letters about longing, some adolescents wrote about the loss of family members, for example. Others remembered events from childhood. This only happens when people feel at ease,” Luany explains. In each of the four classes, conversations were similar, but also different — each group has its own identity, singularity, and rhythm.
For Luany, the essential part lies elsewhere: it is about creating the best possible environment for participants to engage with the Elos Methodology and dive into the dynamics of Affection, the second of the seven movements of the program.
“For me, this is the place where adolescents can express their feelings without judgment. Even if the feeling seems small or unimportant to me, they will know they can always count on my support and attention, because it has meaning for them,” she concludes.