Introduction/justification: university students in the health sector have higher levels of anxiety and stress. Triggering factors include professional skills training, contact with sick people, observation of instructors and fear of mistakes. There are also other determinants of mental health (social, economic, exposure to adverse events, violence, inequalities, etc).
Objectives: to present an extension project structured to offer mental health promotion actions to university students through the use of fairy tales in Occupational Therapy (OT) groups.
Method/approach: the participants are health students from a Brazilian university (OT, Biomedical Sciences, Biomedical Informatics, Medicine, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy and Nutrition). The groups are open, take place weekly in the university's psycho-pedagogical center and last one hour. Stories are read and participants are invited to relate aspects of the story to situations they experience on campus. Fairy tales tell the story of protagonists leaving their place of origin to travel challenging paths, where they encounter antagonists to be defeated.
Results/implications: the project started in 2024 and 12 groups have been held (the average number of participants per meeting was seven), coordinated by an OT and a psychologist, which encourages the expression of issues such as task overload, problematic relationships, diversity, inclusion, belonging, occupational life, etc. Strategies for dealing with problems are discussed by sharing experiences.
Conclusion/importance for Occupational Therapy practice: according to the students, the groups provide welcome, emotional relief and reflections on occupational life. They promote mental health through contact with a different cultural repertoire, in a protected environment that is different from traditional classrooms.