Beyond Procedural Interculturality: Indigenous Governance in Mental Health Implementation Comment on "Routes of Well-Being, Spiritual Harmony and Recovery in Mental Health: The Community as a Policy-Maker"

This commentary examines Agudelo-Hernández and Giraldo-Álvarez’s article as an important contribution to intercultural mental health policy in Colombia. The study illustrates how coproduction can move beyond consultation by translating community meanings of mental health into a territorial route with political relevance and administrative uptake. However, this achievement should be understood as an initial step rather than evidence of full epistemic transformation. Using Colombia’s Indigenous Intercultural Health System (Sistema Indígena de Salud Propia e Intercultural, SISPI) as a policy lens, we argue that intercultural implementation requires Indigenous decision-making authority, protection of ancestral knowledge, sustainable financing, and community-defined indicators of recovery, harmony, and collective well-being. Yet transformative effects cannot be assumed in advance. Current documentation on SISPI provides limited empirical evidence regarding operationalization, financing mechanisms, territorial coordination, and measurable outcomes, underscoring the need for ongoing evaluation as intercultural governance structures move into practice.