Preventing, raising awareness and addressing the "vocational crisis": a major psychiatric plan announced by the government

The government is at the bedside of a feverish psychiatric sector. While the issue of youth mental health has regularly returned to the news in recent weeks, the Ministry of Health unveiled an action plan for psychiatry on Wednesday, June 11.

The unveiled program is structured around three axes and around fifteen measures, focusing both on detecting distress in schools and a desire to strengthen the commitment of the psychiatrist profession, through a streamlining of care provision. On the financial side, however, there have been no financial announcements.

On the prevention side, some of the announcements focus on the school environment . By the start of the 2025-2026 school year, each establishment from primary to secondary school will have to have two "reference personnel" responsible for early detection of possible problems. This point, however, has already been presented by the Ministry of Education, the specifics of which remain unclear three months before the start of the school year.

"The period of greatest vulnerability, a pivotal period in terms of mental health, is young people, particularly those aged 12 to 25," noted the Ministry of Health. The goal is to achieve "training 100% of school health personnel in early detection."

The second part of the plan presented by the ministry focuses on healthcare provision, in light of the observation of shortcomings and failures in the overall provision. The detailed areas of development cover both hospital psychiatry and the system of independent psychologists. The government plans to double the number of these professionals participating in the "My Psychological Support" program .

More generally, the stated ambition is to infuse the culture of treating these ailments into practices, which can also involve providing specific tools adapted to general practitioners. One of the objectives is also to enable "follow-up" of people in the community after episodes of crisis.

Finally, among the other measures envisaged, the regulation of cases of psychological distress directly by emergency telephone lines (15/18), so that people can "be put in touch with a care offer, or with a correspondent trained in the field of psychiatry specifically".

Restructuring care? Smoothing and reorganization may not be enough to fill the gaps, as the number of psychiatric professionals does not meet the needs.

Even before doctors specialize, the goal is to strengthen knowledge of this specialty within the core curriculum. The ministry also wants to require students to complete at least one internship in a dedicated department, with the aim of fostering "vocations" there.

"We need to rebuild and make this profession more attractive, equip it, and restore its deserved reputation," explains the Ministry of Health, which aims to train 600 psychiatry interns per year by 2027, compared to the current average of 500.

To improve attractiveness - without mentioning financial elements - the government is counting in particular on an improvement in working conditions, particularly in terms of security, as well as on a reduction in administrative tasks.