Forming Committed Professionals: The Transformative Experience of Psychology Students at the Salesian University of Bahía Blanca

Ottobre 13, 2025 Andrés Vega0

(Universidad Salesiana UNISAL, Bahía Blanca) – Studying at the Salesian University of Bahía Blanca means stepping into a neighborhood shaped by the enduring presence of Don Bosco, where the legacy of past Salesians is still palpable.

This is not merely an academic experience—it is the culmination of a holistic educational project aimed at forming professionals committed to social transformation. Graduates are prepared to work across diverse contexts, with sensitivity and a deep awareness of who they serve and why their work matters.

To technical knowledge, the program adds a critical and context-aware perspective, recognizing that our professional practice is always intertwined with the social realities we engage with. It becomes natural, then, to ask: What role do we play in society? From where do we observe? How do we position ourselves in the face of others’ suffering?

Within this framework, the fourth year of the Psychology program invites us to live an experience that profoundly shapes our journey: territorial work in Fortín Mercedes. Over several days, we meet with students, teachers, and families from various educational communities, offering mental health workshops. We also share moments of community through the oratory tradition.

These experiences are made possible thanks to the support of our rector, Guillermo Tanos, who introduces the initiative through the Theology department; Vanina Long and Mariana Hernández, coordinators of Non-formal Education and University Life, who manage logistics; and a diverse group of alumni and advanced students who assist in designing and facilitating the workshops. This team, with its deep roots in Salesian spaces, provides emotional support for the challenges that arise.

In this setting, psychology is dismantled and rebuilt—not from theory, but through encounters with others. We are pulled out of academic comfort and learn to listen without imposing, to accompany without invading, and to build knowledge in dialogue with other ways of knowing.

To be a Salesian psychologist is to embrace a commitment. It means understanding that it’s not only about what we know, but about what we choose to do with that knowledge.