• The Assises of mental health are being held on Monday and Tuesday.

  • In Nantes as in other cities, psychologists are worried about a "fundamental questioning" of their profession.

Usually they are the ones who listen, but this time they have a lot to say. As in several cities in France, some 200 psychologists were again mobilized this Tuesday noon in Nantes, in front of the CHU. A date not chosen at random since the Conference on mental health has been held since Monday by videoconference, at the end of which announcements from the President of the Republic are expected. “It's a masquerade that will not solve anything, thinks Thierry Creis, secretary of the South social health union, who called for another rally in front of the Saint-Jacques hospital. We are told that the population needs us, especially since the Covid, but we will never be given enough resources to take good care of patients. "

While the mental health of the French has deteriorated during the crisis, professionals report deteriorating working conditions, unreplaced colleagues, and waiting lists for patients which are lengthening ... "In medical centers -psychological, which welcome free of charge anyone who presents, we have delays of 4 or 5 months, even a year for children!, deplores a professional from the University Hospital of Nantes.

The premises are too small, we are sometimes interrupted in the middle of an interview ... We need more hires and resources in these public structures to be able to meet the exploding demand.

"

Is reimbursement a bad idea?

A track that does not seem favored by the government, which could, on the other hand, announce the reimbursement by Social Security of consultations in the office. A measure rejected by Alexia, Claire, Caroline and Albane, four liberal psychologists who made the trip from Cholet. "If it is ten thirty-minute sessions reimbursed at 22 euros, as has already been said, then that does not suit us, they estimate. We do not put patients in boxes, for example by predefining a number of sessions! Moreover, it is not possible to charge such low prices. "

What professionals also fear is that these patients must be referred by a general practitioner and thus lose “their freedom of choice”.

“There is a big unease because we are moving towards paramedicalization of our profession, summarizes Marie *, psychologist at the Nantes University Hospital.

We are going to lose this intimate space with patients, but also the plural tools we have and which make our specificities.

It is the fundamentals of our businesses that are being called into question.

Another track mentioned which is not unanimous, the creation of an order of psychologists.

Salary adjustments

The unions mobilized finally recall that these professionals were not taken into account in the salary increases of the Ségur de la santé.

"A psychologist with bac + 5 at the beginning of his career currently earns less than a nurse (bac + 3) in the same case", denounces a representative of the CGT at the microphone.

A delegation was received at the beginning of the afternoon by the Regional Health Agency of Pays-de-la-Loire.

"But something tells me that we will have to come out in the street very soon", slips a demonstrator.

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  • Covid 19

  • Psychology

  • Nantes

  • Health