Lhe minute of silence observed after the tragedy of Saint-Jean-de-Luz was obvious in all schools in France. But at the Psychiatric Care-Study Unit (Usep) in Rennes, subject to the same directives of National Education, it raised some questions on this Monday of the start of the school year. Not on its legitimacy, but on the impact that this tribute could have on certain students, given the mental profile of the alleged assassin in the Basque Country. “We will meet on Wednesday in the courtyard but we will not force those who might feel uncomfortable to come, explains Delphine Buan, secretary of studies. We are not going to insist, so as not to risk a form of decompensation. And for good reason, here intersect characters whose mood can quickly decline at the mention of a significant event.
Bipolar, schizophrenic, autistic, anxious or severely depressed: all the boarders are indeed affected by a serious disorder which one day caused them to leave school a few months or several years ago. The bet of this clinic is precisely to give them a foothold in the classroom at the cost of treatment and an appropriate environment. Opened in November 2010 by the Fondation Santé des Étudiants de France (FSEF), it seems to have risen to the challenge, if we are to believe the pass rate for the baccalaureate… of 100%!
“They pass the same tests as everyone else, sometimes with an adjustment or in two years instead of a year, and we find their name in the newspaper when they pass”, welcomes for example Sylvie Rouat, the nurse coordinator . The Usep has even been declared as an official examination center so that the high school students concerned do not have to go to work in a site where they risk losing all means, and this while the unit is backed by the neighboring Chateaubriand high school.
Caregivers and 27 teachers
For Émilie (assumed first name), being there is a godsend. “It’s my last hope,” smiled the young girl sadly. As I no longer had the strength to go to class, I was constantly late and, suddenly, I no longer had the courage to go back, it had become an infernal circle. I hope things will change here, because I’ve always liked to learn, I dream of having my baccalaureate, of getting better, but I couldn’t do it anymore, I was too tired. Behind this lassitude, it is an anxiety-depressive syndrome that was diagnosed in Émilie by a psychiatrist who convinced her to come here. This is also one of the conditions required for admission: that the person concerned presents a pathology detected by a professional. After two interviews with caregivers and members of the teaching staff, the management validates (or not) the registration. After which, each student begins their school course with a personalized timetable in ultra-small numbers and according to the compulsory care.
READ ALSOTeacher killed in Saint-Jean-de-Luz: “We have identified the students in a situation of overwhelmed stress” At the bedside of twenty young people aged 17 to 25 from all over Brittany, eleven of whom are hospitalized full-time from Monday to Friday, there is a team of seven nurses working in shifts day and night, a social worker, a psychologist and two psychiatrists. For the school, twenty-seven teachers (including nineteen working exclusively on a unit basis) were recruited on a voluntary basis. Within the framework of shared medical secrecy, a legally regulated system, they are informed of the various pathologies that they face.
Enough to offer a tailor-made service to each of the residents like Thelma, 17, not far from feeling privileged: “It’s a chance to be there, because before, I really didn’t feel well in my high school, I I was more often in the infirmary than in class because of major problems of stress, anxiety, depression for two years. “A burden that she continues to carry, year after year, within the walls of the unit despite the medication. “I manage to go to class a little better and mentally, things are changing, but there are ups and downs. Here, the rhythm and the atmosphere suit me rather well. “Between the end of the midday meal and the return to class, small groups form, and we hear laughter escaping from the (individual) rooms in which it is “forbidden to lock oneself up”, as stipulated the Rules.
Anti-suicide nets, round-tipped knives, casement windows…
Bright colours, clear spaces, everything is done to make you feel comfortable and safe. Evidenced by these protective nets deployed on all the openings at the level of the landings to prevent any suicide attempt. More than physical violence against others, the desperate gesture is thus the main fear. “The knives are round-tipped in the self-service, the windows are hinged so that we can’t get through, and when the patients come back from vacation or the weekend, we take stock, and if it’s been complicated , we can carry out a search, lists Vivien Morlec, the chief psychiatrist. We are vigilant on a daily basis on everything, but attacks are extremely rare, we especially have patients who can have self-aggressive behavior, in 99% of cases. Faced with someone who has the inclination to take action, we have symptomatic treatment, effective molecules within half an hour, and we also work with the emergency services in the event of crises because we do not have authorization for physical restraint, and there is no seclusion room. »
READ ALSOTikTok: how our little flaws become mental disordersWith experience, professionals, whether medical or educational, have mostly learned to detect the warning signs. “We see them on a daily basis, we quickly spot those who are not doing well, continues Delphine Buan, the school secretary. Suddenly, we contact the doctors to report that such a person is scarified, that another has dark thoughts, or other students can also warn us after reading a disturbing message from a comrade on social networks. “For Lisa, the solution has sometimes been to go home in the middle of a week of hospitalization, as the 19-year-old girl, diagnosed with autism two years ago and very lucid about her case, recognizes. “I know I need to be here for my care, they help me get through the classes, but when I’m here I can’t rest, I don’t sleep well, I don’t feel not in my place, I have fits of paranoia, I feel observed! I’m still a little on the verge of breaking down…”
Dark ideas that have also already crossed Charly’s mind. “If I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t be here,” she says straight away. Barely major, she never really recovered from the harassment she suffered in primary school. More than ten years later, she suffers from a “very serious anxiety disorder” which made her lose all self-confidence. Since she arrived at Usep last summer, she has finally been able to tame her hypersensitivity. “It’s going pretty well, I’m with people I can understand, who understand me, I communicate more, it’s more fluid and it feels good, she savors, very talkative. Later, I would like to help young people who need it, moreover why not work here? she wonders.And after ?
Charly is not the only one to imagine a future outside the structure, at least not right away. “If I could stay longer, I would,” confirms Joannes. At the age of 20, the young man with a mathematics license has never managed to stand on his own since he left a high-level sports course in first class. The pressure, too strong, made it pitch, then dive. Out of school for more than a year, he was able to bounce back at Usep in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, where he graduated from high school. Except that the Sarthoise branch no longer offered support to higher education students. “Suddenly, I went back to a normal cycle and while at Sablé we were very supervised, we were given everything, we were like a family, I found myself in my studio in Paris, all alone, where I did not know person. The change was too brutal, I did not succeed. »
For this “very distressed” twenty-something, he had to come to terms with it, he was not yet ready. He prepares for it, slowly. By step. “In Rennes, I’m in the unit during the week, and I have an apartment at the Crous where I go at the weekend, I feel that things are going better,” he says. But let Joannes, Charly, Lisa, Thelma and the others rest assured, we are doing very well after Usep. There are 13 clinics in France, in which we like to tell the fate of this former boarder welcomed to overcome her school phobia… who is today in 5e medical year.