More adults trained in schools, a more transparent and graded range of care, more trained caregivers: on June 11, the government unveiled a plan to try to better identify and treat mental health disorders and also to make psychiatry more attractive.
Unveiled by the Minister for Health and Access to Healthcare, Yannick Neuder, following an interministerial strategic committee meeting, these thirty measures were announced in mid-2025, a year in which mental health became a major national cause, but also in the wake of the murder of a middle school supervisor by a 14-year-old student, a source of national outrage.
This psychiatry plan is intended to be the “ starting point » of »a lasting commitment", according to Yannick Neuder. " We must rely primarily on the means we have" he told the Parisian, the ministry not specifying whether funds would be released. The great national cause will not be " not just a slogan", he had recently stated, faced with criticism of the executive's inaction, including from within the majority. Around a third of hospital practitioner positions are vacant and the number of beds has been reduced, while the number of patients has doubled over the past twenty years.
The first axis of the plan aims to promote early identification and intervention in the face of mental health problems, particularly among young people aged 12-25, taking up certain measures announced in mid-May by the Minister of Education, Elisabeth Borne, deemed " narrow " by unions.
The objectives: to train two adult reference persons in each secondary school and each primary school district by 2026, to deploy a national model for early detection and intervention, or to train 1,00% school health personnel in early detection.
“ Without financial means, we don't really see how it can work.", Catherine Nave-Bekhti (CFDT Education) told AFP, while "there is a serious shortage of nurses, doctors, school psychologists and social workers" . " We cannot place the burden of this challenge solely on existing staff.", said Sophie Vénétitay (Snes-FSU).
There are also plans to mobilise health students from the health service working in schools to train young people in psychosocial skills and to train 300,000 mental health first aiders by 2027 – a doubling of the number.
Read alsoMental health: new overview of post-Covid deterioration in France
"Little measures"
The second axis aims to promote " local, readable and accessible psychiatry", to better treat before, during and after an acute crisis. Among other measures: priority financial support for medical-psychological centers offering unscheduled appointment slots and intensive monitoring systems, and strengthening the regulation of psychiatric emergencies to direct patients to appropriate care.
In psychiatric emergency departments, the government wants teams to have diverse backgrounds (peer supporters, social workers, etc.) and training in alternatives to isolation and restraint. In urban areas, it aims to have 12,000 psychologists registered with Mon Soutien Psy by 2027, compared to 6,000 today.
Deteriorating access, a shortage of resources, territorial inequalities, and fundamental rights being violated: the Ethics Committee warned at the end of January about the crisis in psychiatry and the urgent need for an ambitious plan. rebuild "psychiatry, the third axis of its measures, the government intends" strengthen training » medical students, with a module in advanced psychiatry in each faculty coupled with a practical internship. The number of psychiatry interns will be increased from 500 to 600 per year starting in 2027. As recommended in the report by MPs Dubré-Chirat and Rousseau, a mission will focus on working conditions in psychiatry, before an action plan in 2026.
Globally, " We can't make up for 10 years of procrastination and waiting in two spoonfuls. We're taking these half-measures, but it's not going to solve anything.", Jean-Pierre Salvarelli (union of hospital psychiatrists) told AFP. " There are broad outlines, but major financial elements, a timetable and a number of measures are missing: there is nothing on prevention, early detection, research and the issue of young people which regularly comes up.", said psychiatrist Rachel Bocher, president of the National Inter-Union of Hospital Practitioners (INPH).
Mental health disorders affect approximately one in three people, and some two million French people receive psychiatric treatment each year. The Covid crisis has exacerbated the deterioration in mental health, particularly among young people.
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