Since March 10, thanks to the student psychiatric health system, students can benefit from six free sessions with a psychologist. We spoke with psychologists from Strasbourg who are participating in this operation. They testify to a great student distress.
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The government had promised it, a platform to help students in distress was created. It is called “student psychiatric health” and it has been in existence since March 10th. The principle is simple. Students who feel a situation of “malaise” must first go to a general practitioner or their university health service to be prescribed sessions with a psychologist.
Doctor Aude Rochoux, director of the university health service of Strasbourg explains this compulsory passage:“When we see the students in consultation, we are able to assess whether it is simply anxiety or if there is a real pathology. We assess the state of mental health of the student. to have control over it. “ Since the start of the operation, a total of 80 students have come to the university health service to ask to participate in the device. “It is necessary that it is the student who takes the step for the psychological follow-up to be effective.” Aude Rochoux adds that “the student himself chooses the psychologist from among the 45 partners in the Bas-Rhin.”
Loneliness, isolation, anxiety
The psychologists in the program are volunteers. To be able to register, they must have been practicing for at least three years. Among them, five psychologists registered on the platform all speak of difficulties common to the students who come to see them. Jean-Martin Wild has been a psychologist in Strasbourg for 14 years and he is used to working with students. He tells how the health crisis is impacting them. Overall, there is no typical profile, students come from all disciplines and are of all ages.
These are people who have been told “be good at school and you will be fine”. There, the students feel they are being robbed and betrayed. The feeling, that there is an injustice and that the promise of a student life and the quality of an education are not guaranteed.
Beyond the current situation, Celik Vakkas, psychologist in Strasbourg explains that, “Apart from Covid, the beginnings of schizophrenia and psychosis begin at that age. This is the pivotal moment when you become an adult. So this is an important period where there are also a lot of suicide attempts . “ Having worked as a guidance counselor for several years, the psychologist adds that it is easier to work with a young audience. “In Germany, I work with migrant populations and it’s complicated, whereas with young people, you see results from the first session and it’s super motivating.”
In all, each student is allowed six forty-five minute sessions. For Jean-Martin Wild, this is a reasonable number of sessions. “Sometimes all it takes is one session to get the student out of isolation. In six sessions you can do meaningful work. Usually the first three sessions are trying to deal with the crisis situation. last, we try to consolidate the psychological hygiene of the students by giving them advice on sleep or cardiac coherence. “
30 euros per session, is that enough?
Completely free for students, the sessions are paid for thirty euros for forty-five minutes by the university. An amount that remains below the rate usually applied by psychologists. Carmen Metzger has been a psychologist in Strasbourg since 2006, she has already welcomed several students through the student psy health system. She claims to participate in the project out of solidarity but she judges the price of thirty euros “shabby and ashamed”. It normally applies a rate of fifty-five euros for the same period.
For Emmy Fluckiger, psychologist who also participates in the device “Financially, we do not find it. It should be at the same price as the other consultations. It is complicated because it is necessary to fill in the papers, it is not profitable because there is also an administrative time behind . “
For other psychologists like Claudia Mazuolo who follows around ten students thanks to the device, the price is not a problem:“for me, everyone should be able to access psychologists, whatever their means so I don’t mind being paid thirty euros per session. Especially since psychologists often adapt to the financial situation of their patient in general . “
The device is scheduled to last until December 31, 2021. All the psychologists interviewed are in favor of an operation of this type continuing. Carmen Metzger claims that “In other European countries, sessions with the psychologist are reimbursed. In France, student sessions should be reimbursed by social security.”
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