Maria Inês Geraldo Faria, a student of the Bachelor's Degree in Psychology at the Faculty of Education and Psychology (FEP) of Universidade Católica in Porto, is one of the winners of the award "European Union in my Life" in the competition organized by the European Documentation Center (CDE - UCP - Porto). With the primary purpose of awarding original essays/papers about European Union, promoting the study and critical reflection of what European Union is, its policies, activities, its peoples and cultures, its memories and roots, the "European Union in my Life" competition, aimed at university students, stems from the joint initiative of the European Documentation Centers (CDE) in Portugal supported by the portuguese European Commission Representation. Maria Geraldo Faria highlights "the multidisciplinarity of this competition, giving students from various fields the opportunity to position themselves about the future of the European Union, not limiting critical thinking always to the same line of thought and evaluation."

What will Europe be like tomorrow?

The author of the essay "The European Union in My Life: A Look at Mental Health" stood out among the nine eligible submissions at Universidade Católica in Porto for its relevance, thematic interest, originality, problematization, argumentation, and clarity.

"Dreaming of something and working towards it, we all have immense potential inside."

With the aim of, according to the FEP student, "giving voice to those who are the future of Europe," her essay focuses on the importance of mental health, particularly prevention, in a Europe that wants to emerge from a pandemic and finds itself immersed in a war. In this sense, the author takes a "journey" from what was the conception of mental illness in the past and nowadays, evaluates the mental health policies of the European Union, and finally suggests possible lines of action.

"The Europe of tomorrow will be better if we all work in the Europe of today."

For Maria Inês Faria: "This award is a great achievement. I begin my work precisely with a reflection on what the dream is, emphasizing that by dreaming of something and working towards it, we all have immense potential inside." By pursuing her dreams, the author of the winning work has earned, by virtue of her award, a joint study trip to Brussels, which will take place in 2023. The inspiring message from Maria Inês Faria is that "the Europe of tomorrow will be better if we all work in the Europe of today."