The results of the Health Barometer from the National Institute for Prevention and Health Education (INPES) indicate that nearly 800 deaths by suicide are recorded annually on average in the PACA region.
Meanwhile, the youth population is also greatly affected, particularly in the age group of 15 to 24 years, where suicides account for 13% of deaths. In the 25-29-year age group, this proportion reaches almost 20%*.
At the local level, 150 adolescents are received each month at the Psychiatric Reception Center of Nice University Hospital for attempted suicide.
These alarming results justify the organization, for the twelfth consecutive year, of a World Suicide Prevention Day, with a particular effort directed towards the youth.
Within the framework of the mental health plan, the General Council is strongly committed to the prevention of suicide among young people.
Aware of the issue for a long time, the Department has tasked the youth health hub, a comprehensive health structure for young people aged 12 to 25, to closely monitor signs of distress, somatic disorders, and psychological suffering.
Listening to young people is equally vital: since the establishment of a suicide unit for youth up to the age of 16 within the Lenval Foundation, the active list has increased from 50 to 60 patients to 150 patients per year (suicide attempts or threats) with a reduction in recurrences by 20 to 30%.
However, to create a true synergy on this crucial issue, the Department intends to federate, starting this September, the systems likely to intervene in the prevention and management of youth distress.
The partnership with Fil Santé Jeunes of the School for Parents and Educators of Ile-de-France presented yesterday by the President of the General Council, Eric Ciotti, will be the preferred listening platform for young people who will thus be better directed towards a specialized listening and support service.
The convention between the General Council
and the School for Parents and Educators of Ile-de-France
Listening to and responding to young people in difficulty and distress is therefore crucial. It is within this framework, as just indicated, that a partnership with Fil Santé Jeunes is being established.
The School for Parents and Educators of Ile-de-France and Fil Santé Jeunes
To this end, the General Council will work in concert with the School for Parents and Educators of Ile-de-France (EPE), a leader in this field.
EPE is an association governed by the 1901 Law and recognized as being in the public interest, by virtue of a delegation from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, to which INPES has notably entrusted a national mission to provide a telephone response to the issue of youth suicide.
Its founder, Marguerite Lebrun-Vérine, wrote in 1929 that the purpose of the EPE association was: “Any activity aimed at spreading better knowledge of the child and family educational realities among parents and educators, and, in general, to help them solve the difficulties of their task, notably by confronting their experiences in parent groups.”
It should be noted that this comment could just as well apply to the School for Parents / Children’s Home inaugurated on April 24, 2010, in Nice, whose goals are more specific, but the end goal identical.
The EPE – IDF undertakes its prevention actions through reception, information, family guidance, youth listening and orientation, and professional training, to meet the needs of its time: the difficulties of young people and the disarray of families.
The Ecole des Parents et des Educateurs Ile-de-France association draws its expertise notably through its social telephony platform directed at families and young people, existing since 1995 with the creation of the Fil Santé Jeunes hotline.
The Missions of Fil Santé Jeunes:
Fil Santé Jeunes, with the help of the Department, will thus exercise a dual mission in favor of Azurian youth that consists of:
o offering young people an anonymous and free telephone service 7 days a week from 9 AM to 11 PM, Green Number 0800 235 236 (formerly 32 24) or from a cell phone, 0144933074, as well as a website, where they can find listening, information, and guidance in the domains of physical, psychological, and social health;
being a “national observatory”
