The “office” of the mobile team for adolescents in Guingamp, in the Côtes-d’Armor, resembles the surveillance trucks used by the police: massive, blue, tinted windows. “Not very discreet”, recognizes Morgane Boete, a psychologist, getting out of the utility vehicle parked near a high school in the city center. But practical: benches have been arranged at the back, on either side of a small wooden tablet, to give a semblance of comfort.
This is where Julie*, a 16-year-old high school student, settles. The team was alerted a few weeks earlier by the school nurse. She is in conflict with her mother, does not get along with her stepfather and feels neglected. ” You are angry ? », asks Jérôme Masson, the team nurse, to break the silence. Julie hesitates, twists on the seat. “Yes, I would like my mother to open her eyes”, she admits, lowering her head.
The highest suicide rate in France
Imagined twenty years ago to meet suffering teenagers, mobile teams have multiplied in recent years in Brittany. Those of Guingamp, Saint-Brieuc and Dinan were launched in September 2020 in the poorest department of the region, largely rural, and which holds a sad record: that of the highest suicide rate in France. The Regional Health Agency (ARS) – which finances this completely free system – had noted at the time that the Côtes-d’Armor were “under-endowed in child psychiatry”, with a number of healthcare professionals twice lower than the national average (66.4 per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 134.7 in France).
“We are here to avoid hospitalizations as much as possible”, specifies Jérôme Masson, who teams up with a psychologist, a social worker and an educator. In the vast majority of cases, the team is contacted by a third party (school, attending physician, departmental structures, etc.) who has noticed that a young person is not doing well. She contacts the teenager to arrange a first meeting, where he wishes. At home, in the privacy of the truck-office, at McDonald’s or under a bus shelter.
“The idea is to meet in a friendly setting to try to create a relationship before getting to the heart of the matter”, noted Sigrid Zwingelstein, nurse in the mobile team of Saint-Brieuc. “Anything psychiatric gives them hives. So we play down,” she continues. A maximum of ten appointments are set for teenagers. If this is not enough to alleviate their discomfort, they are referred to a professional or a partner structure.
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