"We support people who are psychologically fragile or even psychotic. With the confinement decreed against the coronavirus, they are even more isolated than usual. Our mission is to not forget them", explains Johan Douaze, educator specializing in Roanne, in the center from France.

Since 2013, he has been working in a accommodation and social reintegration center (CHRS). These structures help people in precarious situations to find housing, especially after a difficult eviction or separation. Johan Douaze notably helps former prisoners to reintegrate socially. In total, the CHRS teams take care of around 200 people around the Roanne basin.

"These people are fragile," warns Johan Douaze. "Wandering usually allows them to hold on and not go crazy. And then they are asked to stay at home ..."

Confinement difficult to understand

Indeed, since March 17 and at least until April 15, the French government has decreed a general containment to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Outings are limited and the instructions can be difficult to understand for vulnerable populations.

"They are asked to apply things that do not make sense to them. They do not take stock of what is happening," said the 41-year-old special education teacher. "The days pass, good behavior does not fall into place, anxieties mount ... We lack people to put in front of them to help them and we are afraid that they will find themselves alone."

"We only spend 2% of our time with those we have to take care of. 98% of the time, they are alone with their anxieties. It’s hard to hold on when everything is going well, so it’s complicated , he breathes.

Adapt work organization

Faced with confinement, the CHRS has changed the way it works to preserve its staff and the people they care for. "We have adapted our way of working. We are now one person per day and per department. Every day, we try to call each of the people we care for, explains Johan Douaze. We try to stick to it and to act when you feel it will crack. "

But the educator feels helpless: hospital resources are reallocated to the fight against the coronavirus, depriving the CHRS of means of action, the psychiatric day care service has been closed.

"It's complicated today to get people hospitalized. They only take really urgent cases," he explains. "We have the case of a woman in one of our accommodations who is in the midst of decompression. She no longer eats, she does not wash anymore, no longer leaves her room and insults her roommates. But psychiatric services can not intervene, until it has really fired a lead, "he laments.

"One mask for the whole day"

Johan Douaze also points to the lack of means at his disposal, as well as that of his colleagues to continue to carry out their public service mission. Indeed, they must daily confront audiences which they do not know if they are carriers of the virus.

"When I arrived this morning, I only had one mask for the whole day, when I visit people," he says.

"We are at war and the situation requires many social workers to be mobilized for the continuity of public service. We are and this mission has a lot of meaning for us", explains the educator. "But we must also offer ourselves the means to be able to stay on the ground. Otherwise, we are moving towards a right of withdrawal, to the detriment of the people we care for."

"We must give the means to protect the educational teams and we need recognition because otherwise some will abandon the ship. We must not forget those who deal with the invisible," he says, although he understands that the nursing staff have priority over the distribution of masks and hydroalcoholic gels.

"The life chain is already broken for some"

"It's hard for everyone, but at least we can understand what's going on," sighs Johan Douaze. "Many of these people are adrift and some are plotting, claiming that all of this is just forcing the Yellow Vests to stay at home ..."

Johan Douaze, like many other organizations dealing with precarious people, calls for solutions that take into account the particular situations of these men and women: "For example, people under guardianship or curatorship usually receive a transfer every two or three days to help them manage their money. There, with the crisis, some have and their money for the month in one go, when they are unable to manage it. They can spend everything and end up without anything, "warns Johan Douaze. "Some merchants refuse cash to avoid transmissions and prefer the card. But these people do not have a credit card and find themselves penalized."

"A good part of the people we support also receive daily food aid. This vital chain is already broken for some, due to a lack of food and people to distribute it. This adds additional tension", notes the educator specialized. "There needs to be a state organization of the collection and distribution of foodstuffs to the poorest and the usual recipients of food aid."

"This crisis highlights the problems of the support policy" in psychiatry

More generally, for the specialized educator, France "today pays for the psychiatric policy which has been going on for years".

"We closed beds in hospitals. We wanted to make a policy of accompanying people to their homes, with mobile teams. This is not at all adapted to the current situation of confinement," he explains. . "This crisis highlights the problems of this policy. When we preferred hospitalizations, there was less risk of it breaking out like this. Our concern is that if there are no more possible answers for these people, there will be no more social restraint. "

The educator fears an explosion of violence in the home: “A number for women victims of violent husbands has been set up. It's good, but it's not just this dimension. Today, there are people, young people, who have found themselves confined in family, when they should not, ”worries Johan Douaze. “Faced with the situation, we brought them together and we cross our fingers so that as little as possible happens ...”

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