“We need more psychologists in schools”

In November last year, the Ministry of Health admitted that “although psychologists are directly involved in the treatment of patients, their profession is not included in the list of health professions”. In addition, there is a major shortage of skilled workers, as shown in the latest list published by ADEM on February 5th. But it is precisely because the profession of psychologist is not included in the list of health professions that this shortage exists.

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A situation that raises questions considering how much the issue of mental health has become more important since the pandemic. Incidentally, young people are increasingly affected, as is the case first report from the Health Observatorywhich was published at the beginning of the year.

Unfortunately, the conclusions of the report on the mission of conventional medicine by Honorary Professor Pierre-André Michaud underline that there are hardly any synergies between the ministries of health and education in the field of mental health. This is despite the fact that school is still one of the places where young people spend the majority of their time.

This is also confirmed by the experiences Pascale* has had in the past. As the mother of a 15-year-old teenager, she felt helpless when her daughter needed psychological support after a tragic event. “I asked for an appointment with her school psychologist at SePas (Service psycho-social et d’accompagnement scolaires, editor’s note). They told me to go to our church’s mental health services. When I got there I was told I needed an appointment!”

Staying at home for weeks without social contact, keeping your distance and wearing a mask – the pandemic has placed a heavy burden on the mental health of children and young people. Foto: Getty Images

Long waiting times for private practice appointments

From there she was given the telephone number of a psychologist. “But it couldn’t wait! I visited a psychologist in Kirchberg with my daughter. The appointment only lasted five minutes. Then they gave me a list of addresses of psychologists. I was told to find someone on the list because they ‘didn’t have room to look after my daughter.'” The mother therefore decided to call the number again. “I made it clear to them that they had to take responsibility and that if anything happened to my daughter it would be their fault.”

Ultimately, her daughter was allowed to see a psychologist. “Considering I had to go to the practice first before my daughter was even admitted. Then another two week wait, so a whole month for a first visit. Actually, she could have gone to the school psychologist, but since it is on school grounds, I didn’t want my child to be branded by others. By the way, my decision was right. As of this year, there is no longer even a psychologist at the school. It has not yet been possible to replace it.”

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Dany Semedo, President of the CNEL (National Student Conference of Luxembourg), often hears about cases like Pascale’s.

“When a student has mental health problems, they often don’t know who to turn to and who to talk to. The school does have a psychological service. But relative to the number of students, they don’t have enough staff.”

Awareness campaigns to remove taboos around mental health

“We need more psychologists at school,” emphasizes Semedo. “However, the implementation is complex, as we know. It remains to be seen whether it would be possible to work with private psychologists.” Furthermore, the CNEL, in collaboration with the CePas (Centre psycho-social et d’accompagnement scolaires), the central body that takes care of the small SePas, assures two large ones Wanting to implement construction sites.

“We have introduced awareness campaigns to normalize mental health issues and the use of psychologists. For some it is still taboo to see a school psychologist.” The other major problem: the problem of confidentiality.

“Some didn’t want to go to their school’s SePas because there had been trust issues over several years.” Some of the information entrusted to them was not treated confidentially, said Semedo. In the past, SePas has informed parents and teachers about what was said and sometimes also classmates. In other cases, a SePas person picked up a student in the middle of the lesson in front of the whole class, which made it clear to other students where the classmate was going. “This is also a form of discomfort that shouldn’t be there. This was a very big factor to consider because every student wants their concerns to remain private. Confidentiality must apply.”

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However, taboo and trust are not the only obstacles. According to Dany Semedo, the location of the service is also an issue. “It happens that the SePas is located where there are a lot of passers-by. This means that some do not dare to go because they are afraid of being seen by others and that students then talk among themselves. This creates a feeling of shame.”

To stop the shame, the CNEL would currently work with CePas to come up with campaigns to re-motivate students and show them what SePas can offer. “Because we sincerely believe that a lot has been achieved since then.”

CePas: Psychotherapy is not part of the school’s mission

CePas confirms this information: “In addition to the various actions to no longer make the topic of mental health taboo, this year we are continuing the #MirSinn campaign, which we launched in 2022 together with various youth organizations, including the CNEL , whose aim is to improve the accessibility and proximity of the educational and psychosocial services available in secondary schools.”

The Center psycho-social et d’accompagnement scolaires would nevertheless like to point out that “although psychotherapy itself is not part of the school’s mission, in addition to psychologists, numerous multidisciplinary professional actors are mobilized for the mental health of young people”.

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A quality facility is already in place and will be further developed, with resources being invested in the educational and psychosocial staff working within the schools. But also on other levels such as the reimbursement of costs via ONE, the reimbursement of psychotherapy or the CePas advice center for young people and families, which offers a free and confidential service. Currently, 750 mental health first aiders are being trained to work with struggling youth in high schools.

Finally, as part of the Mental Health Weeks taking place from October 7th to 20th, the CePas, in collaboration with the Rotondes and the Eltereforum, will offer school performances and a public performance of the play “Wellbeing Mental Noise”, which is part of the National Action Plan for Youth 2022-2025 was staged.

*First name has been changed for reasons of anonymity.

** This article first appeared on “Virgule” and was translated into German with slight adjustments. Translation: Florian Javel