Raise awareness among adolescents of mental health issues via an escape game, such is the joint action carried out in Nancy by a psychiatric institution and a high school. On January 31, 2023, 185 second-year students “played” to better identify the impact of illness on their health and learn how to protect themselves from it.
The starting point of this project on the initiative of the department of health promotion and prevention of Nancy Psychotherapy Center (CPN) was to carry out an action to raise awareness and destigmatize mental health in partnership with a school in Nancy: lNotre-Dame Saint Sigisbert school complex.
Started in January 2022, the working group involved healthcare professionals from the CPN1education professionals2 and volunteer students of 1st3. The aim was to build a “tailor-made” project for second-year students, combining information on mental health and preventive measures. According to Géraldine Mortier, school nurse, “ the purpose of this project was to raise young people’s awareness of the importance of being an actor in their mental health“. Over the course of the exchanges, the idea of proposing an “escape game” is refined. It is then a question of elaborating the game and of proposing enigmas in connection with the title chosen: “There are keys to going well”. Fifteen working sessions and a few hours of tinkering, even crafting, for each one between sessions because most of the elements of the game are built by hande”, are necessary to finalize the escape game. Starting point of the game: an anonymous student (represented by a cardboard figure) presents with discomfort (nervousness, stress, stomach aches, eating disorders, etc.) associated with negative thoughts. Illnesses related to adolescence and its challenges in terms of identity construction, academic success, orientation, social representation… To find the keys to getting better, five areas are addressed – breathing, music , activities (artistic, sporting, multimedia), social ties and useful numbers to know – through riddles to solve.
Tuesday, January 31, 2023 is the big day! The 185 second-year students of the Notre Dame Saint Sigisbert school complex are invited to participate in the escape game. They are divided into 5 rooms in groups of 5 or 6, with a maximum of 30 minutes to solve the puzzles and “game masters” present to guarantee the smooth running of the game. “They played throughout the day, in turn, with enthusiasm and in a very good atmosphere. underlines Géraldine Mortier. At the end of this day, a general assembly in the presence of all, students and the entire work team, allowed ” go further » and to explain the purpose of this action by dissecting the different stages of the game. « An extremely positive assessment and beyond our expectations. This escape game certainly required a lot of work, but we were largely rewarded by the welcome that the students gave to this day”, explains Lydia Boukhetaia, head of the mental health promotion and prevention department at the CPN.
Géraldine Mortier noted the rebound effect of this game by welcoming in the following days to the infirmary several students who came to confide “regarding things they hadn’t dared to talk regarding until thennot measuring the negative effects they might have on their mental health: harassment, video game addiction, sleep disorders…“. The voice of these adolescents thus released, they can face their anxieties, share them while benefiting from resources to cope and get better.
At the same time, and because education professionals must also be trained in these problems of adolescent malaise, training days in mental health first aid have been offered to them by the CPN. « A way of showing the involvement of psychiatry in prevention and health promotion actions. Support missions that we are committed to carrying out within the CPN and that we wish to be reproducible“, concludes Lydia Boukhetaia.
- Béranger Simon, psychologist at the CPN, Emma Populus, nurse in the child psychiatry department, Lydia Boukhetaia, head of the mental health promotion and prevention department at the CPN.
- Nadège Schmitt, head of school life, Stéphanie Luttenbacher, head of secondary education, Géraldine Mortier, school nurse, Notre Dame Saint Sigisbert school complex
- Alethéia, Anne, Gauthier, Lyly, Olivia and Romane, 1st graderstime of the Notre Dame Saint Sigisbert school complex.
Presentation of this action with Géraldine Mortier, school nurse, Lydia Boukhetaia, Head of the Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Department – CPN, Anne and Romane, high school student, to listen to ici
