A neuroaffirming approach, free from pathologisation.
About Us
The people behind Valle Vivo
A collaborative project bringing together neurodevelopment, community health and a commitment to the Patagonian territory.
Our purpose
Health is built together, as a community
Valle Vivo was born to bring practical tools for brain health and neurodiversity within reach of the everyday lives of families, teachers and health teams. We are a solid bridge between the global educational community of Neurodiverse Minds and deep local roots in Patagonia. We believe in a horizontal practice that puts scientific knowledge directly at the service of people, breaking down geographical barriers and stigma through an interdisciplinary way of working as a team that values every form of knowledge.
Coordination and interdisciplinary team
A network of shared knowledge
Valle Vivo is a project founded and led by Melody Gramajo, an educator and consultant specialising in neurodevelopment, neurodiversity and brain health across the life course.
She trained in medicine at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and holds postgraduate diplomas in neurodiversity and the autism spectrum. For years she has worked as a consultant for families, teachers and health teams, combining community practice with solid research work: she is a member of the international Cochrane network and takes an active part in open science analysis groups of the NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR). She is also the creator of Neurodiverse Minds, a platform from which she promotes neuroaffirming education and open resources for the whole region.
At Valle Vivo, this outlook grounded in scientific evidence and open science is woven horizontally into a collaborative network of professionals from education, mental health and social work, together with the knowledge held by the families of the valley itself.
How the project is sustained
A community project, not for profit
Valle Vivo is a strictly community-based, not-for-profit project, at the stage of conceptual development and on its way to being constituted as a civil association.
All community activities — guidance for families, workshops for carers and practical guides — are and will remain free and openly accessible. The project is designed to be sustained through fellowships, research grants and philanthropic funds: never by charging families, and never as a private clinic.
Work with schools, health centres, municipalities, universities and organisations takes place through institutional partnership agreements, at no cost to the people taking part.
Partnerships and networks
Joining forces with the territory
We do not believe in working in isolation. We actively seek to work alongside neighbourhood health centres, local councils, schools, older people's clubs and civil society organisations. Partnerships are not a mere catalogue of logos, but living agreements of collaboration and mutual respect for the care of the community.
Guiding values
What holds our work together
Dignity and agency for the person and their family.
Open, accessible scientific rigour.
An ethic of care and community justice.