More adults trained in schools, a more transparent and graded range of care, more trained caregivers: the government unveiled a plan on Wednesday 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 psychiatric plan is intended to be the "starting point" of "a lasting commitment," according to Yannick Neuder. "We must rely primarily on the resources we have," he told Le Parisien, with the ministry not specifying whether funds would be released.
The great national cause will be "not just a slogan," he recently affirmed, faced with criticism of the executive's inaction, including within the majority.
About 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 part of the plan aims to promote early detection and intervention in the face of mental health problems, particularly among young people aged 12-25, and incorporates certain measures announced in mid-May by Education Minister Elisabeth Borne, which were 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 resources, we don't really see how this can work," Catherine Nave-Bekhti (CFDT Education) told AFP, while "we are seriously lacking 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.
– “Little measures” –
The second axis aims to promote "local, transparent and accessible psychiatry" to provide better treatment 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, resource shortages, territorial inequalities, and fundamental rights being violated: the Ethics Committee warned at the end of January of the crisis in psychiatry and the urgent need for an ambitious plan.
To "rebuild" psychiatry, the third area of its measures, the government intends to "strengthen the training" of 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 examine working conditions in psychiatry, before an action plan is drawn up in 2026.
Overall, "we can't make up for 10 years of procrastination and waiting in two easy steps. We're taking these half-measures, but they're not going to solve anything," Jean-Pierre Salvarelli (hospital psychiatrists' union) 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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