The project, inspired by a Quebec methodology, uses art and creation for a new approach to the patient and the caregiver. Because if all these students in the third year of physiotherapy, ergonomics or podiatry are already sensitive to the notion of care with regard to the professions they embrace, the lack of time, of availability can make them rush the moment of homepage. Isabelle Galichon, specialist in narrative medicine, coordinator and at the initiative of the project (1), insists on the interest of such training, “which offers these young people an experiment in creation and thus allows them to reflect on care” . The final result proved him right, as patients and caregivers noted at the end of the day: “We will never experience reception the same way once more. »
Vincent and Théa come from the Basque Country. Théa, a podiatry student, is also an “almost pro” dancer. The relationship to the body, she knows. “This day linked my passion with my profession. And then, I really liked the patient testimonials, we discussed subjects that we are not used to discussing. »
Théa on the left, podiatry student, and the artist Coline Gaulot. Assisi, Marie-Christine, caregiver and Sylvie and John, two patients.
C. M.
“We discovered fascinating life stories,” adds Vincent. And that took us to places we weren’t going. Renaud (Borderie, director, editor’s note) pushed us to speak correctly, to articulate, to pay attention to accents, to jargon. We often have preconceptions that we repress, he admits. He made us work on exchanges and openness. »
The first group to be mounted on the Mécascène worked with the choreographer Isabelle Lasserre. C. M.
Fighting prejudice
For her part, Hélène, who suffers from irritable bowel syndrome and Bordeaux representative of the’association APSSII, participated in the storytelling workshop with Cheikh Sow. “I found it extraordinary,” she says. It was very enriching and I was happily surprised by the contact with the young people. There was no longer any age barrier, there was great listening. We must emphasize the importance of listening because doctors tend to manage a part of the body, there they saw us as a whole. “For me, it was a matter of helping them discover a medium that would allow them to get away from everything medical,” emphasizes Cheikh Sow. They were so kind to each other. They left moved with great difficulty in separating. » Strong links were created during this day between the different protagonists. Everyone left different from who they were when they arrived.
John, a patient, and Marie-Christine, his caregiver, took part in the workshop of Coline Gaulot who worked on the imagination with her group. From a simple first name, she first invited the students to imagine the patient, and to write on a Post-it his characteristics, his passions. Then through a first look, she made them push the description. Finally, the patients wrote their reality on a last Post-it. Lots of emotion there too. “This exercise gives the students an additional element, a framework that they don’t receive at school, it’s regarding capturing the uniqueness of each one”, summarizes John. It is still a question of combating prejudice, interpretation.
Sylvie, a patient, made a point of presenting us this plastic work which sits in the large room of the terrace of the Méca with these three symbols: ignorance, resilience and freedom. The restitution of the day’s workshops took place on the Mécascène. If the throat was knotted more than once, there was an incredible energy during this creative moment and a great humanity.
