A look to the community: necessary experience to the qualification of the occupational therapist

This text deals with the experience of seven students fromthe supervised curricular stage on Occupational Therapy in Collective Health, produced in "Vila Brejal - Levada" in Maceio, State of Alagoas. This experience aimed at providing students with a look into the community based on territory, institutions present in that neighborhood, and on their relationships with the alteration perspectives on the dynamics of the everyday lives of the people who participate in actions by these institutions. Besides, we propose a look into how the community presents itself before the challenging situational context found there. The methodological aspects aim at three movements: live experience, project follow up and socialization in conversation circles. The live experience occurred through a contact with the local Basic Health Unit, having health community agents as partners. The project follow up was possible with the participation of residents in a multi-professional family health specialization, which develops actions together with NGOs acting in the area. The socialization in conversation circles provided a window for thestudents to learn aboutthe vulnerable situation of the community, making it possible to visualize the action of occupational therapy in the collective health area. Results show that this experience enhances students' capacity of identifying the dynamics of a community, recognizing social support networks and developing abilities to act in the territory.