“When a teenager is doing very badly, what counts in access to care is of course rapid treatment, but also the exit, contact with the reality outside. » Doctor Alice Letessier, head of the child psychiatry unit at the Pyrénées Hospital Center (CHP) in Pau, presented on Tuesday December 17 the challenges of the opening at the end of 2024 of the new crisis center for adolescents Les Tamaris.
The new unit, unprecedented in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and which responds to the alarming increase (+ 40%) in admissions of adolescents since Covid, will on the one hand provide appropriate reception during a crisis (depression , severe anorexia, delusional episodes, etc.), “with a limited duration of treatment of ten days, renewable once”.
“Reality is out there”
On the other hand, it will ensure the link to other structures to stabilize the patient and think about the future, thanks to the mobile teams of caregivers and educators who ensure contact with families in particular. To avoid “producing symptoms” by adding the anxiety of returning to that of the initial situation, it is a matter of “teaching the young person to ‘deal with it’, to mobilize their own resources and not stay in a hospital-centered environment,” explain the caregivers. “Reality is out there…”
For the most complicated cases, those who cannot return home sometimes for several months (eating habits, serious family difficulties, school phobias), the direct vicinity of Capucines, the child psychiatry center, allows for continued treatment in candy.
Alain Guinamant (brown jacket), the director of the Regional Health Agency in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, inaugurated the center.
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Alain Guinamant, the director of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques which financed the project (nearly 880,000 euros) could be satisfied to see the birth of this missing link in the provision of psychiatric care to the address of adolescents.
If we manage to achieve zero isolation, we will have achieved our objective
Intended for 13-17 year olds, the Les Tamaris unit, built in record time (less than a year), has over 200 m² of five beds in as many secure rooms – note the total absence of hooks to limit the risk of suicide –, an enclosed outdoor garden for group therapeutic activities, and a sensory space (sound and light) intended to promote natural calming. “This makes it possible to avoid isolation rooms and coercive measures (straitjackets), explains Jamel Fedlaoui, senior manager of the Béarn and Soule juvenile center. If we manage to achieve zero isolation, we will have achieved our objective. »
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The direct proximity to Les Capucines, the child psychiatry center, allows for smooth continuation of care.
There remains the problem – not at all trivial – of the shortage of doctors which, despite all the material resources and other measures deployed, has kept healthcare teams and their patients precarious for too many years.
In case of crisis
In the event of a crisis situation, 05 59 80 94 63 allows you to contact the Crisis Reception and Admission Unit (UAAC) of the Pyrénées Hospital Center, from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. during these times, it is possible to contact 3114 (national suicide prevention number), traditional emergencies at 15, or even SOS-Amitié at 09 72 39 40 50.
