Mental health | A group approach to help young people affected by the pandemic

While the lack of psychologists makes access to individual services difficult, a community intervention project offers “a collective solution to a collective problem”: the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of young people first, but also, possibly, of all.

Valerie Simard
The Press

In the premises of the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi de Laval, a small group of young people met, not to revise their CVs or go through job offers, but to follow one of the workshops of the InterCom Project, an initiative launched by Roxane de la Sablonnière, researcher and professor in the psychology department at the Université de Montréal, and Caroline Lebeau, director of La Tournée Édu4tive, an organization that works to make children aware of individual differences.

Alarmed by the repercussions of the pandemic on the psychological health of young people, they wanted to quickly set up a community intervention project that could reach as many people as possible. According to the Coalition of Quebec Public Network Psychologists, the waiting period to obtain an appointment with a psychologist in the public network is 6 to 24 months. “We have a problem that is collective, so we have to think of collective solutions, believes Roxane de la Sablonnière. Each of us is going through a drama in relation to the pandemic and, if we need help, there are not enough resources right now for everyone. »

Although it cannot replace individual therapy, the InterCom Project nevertheless aims to help young people overcome the difficulties linked to the pandemic by relying on the popularization of scientific data and positive psychology. Researchers and clinical psychologists contribute to its development. As well as psychology students, community workers and young participants themselves.

Empower yourself with the workshops

On January 31, at the CJE in Laval, two psychology students from the University of Montreal led a workshop based on understanding social change, a crucial step in the development of resilience. They open by asking participants what superpower they would like to have. A seemingly frivolous way to break the ice, but which turns out to be not unrelated to how everyone is experiencing the pandemic. Almost all of them would like to hold a power that would take them away from here. “I would like to travel back in time, to go to the past and to the future, after the pandemic, to see what the world is going to look like, because we all can’t wait for it to be over,” says Francis. “I would like to teleport to see my friends,” Gabrielle replies.

We agreed to identify participants only by their first name, in order to allow them to express themselves freely during the workshop. All are enrolled in a program for 18-29 year olds who are neither in school nor in employment, funded by Emploi-Québec.

“They have a social network that is often very limited or limited to online relationships,” notes Jenny Lallemand, youth worker at the CJE in Laval. Already, being in a small group, coming here was demanding for some. »

“Personally, the pandemic has been positive for me, it has allowed me to pull myself together,” says Karl, who has several workshops behind the tie.

Having been able to collaborate in the development of these workshops has greatly enhanced them, notes Jenny Lallemand.

“These young people, we would not have joined them otherwise, underlines Caroline Lebeau. They were in the basement with their parents, maybe one of the only contacts they have is to go to the CJE. »

Values, individual and collective, are at the heart of this workshop on dramatic social change, a change described as sudden which leads to an upheaval in social structures and a loss of bearings. Reflecting on one’s values ​​is an important exercise in such a context, according to Roxane de la Sablonnière. All the more so for young people who are in the process of building their identity.

Being young, “a risk factor”

According to her, there is no doubt: young people are strongly tested by the pandemic. “The results in the scientific literature are quite consistent. When we do analyses, whether at the level of emotions, well-being, anxiety or clarity of identity, the fact of being young is always a risk factor. »

It is for this reason that they are the primary audience targeted by these workshops, developed around six themes, which have been presented some thirty times since last May, notably in a youth center and at the CJE in Laval.

Eventually, the founders of the project would like to be able to extend it to a wider audience. Already, the conference component has reached close to 1,000 people, at the Université de Montréal, in the community or in business. It is also a rehearsal for the sequel. “If there is another crisis, we will be ready”, says Roxane de la Sablonnière, who nevertheless calls for the implementation of other collective solutions like this and like the sentry teams put in place by the D^D Mélissa Généreux during the Lac-Mégantic tragedy.