Empowerment and mental health – a step forward for the French public health system
Peljak, Dominique
Empowerment and mental health – a step forward for the French public health system - 2016.
5
Driven by international standards and case law guidelines, French law has been amended to encourage the “empowerment” of the mentally ill. For patients detained in hospitals, carer/patient dynamics have changed, thanks to the systematic involvement of the “judge of freedoms” ( juge des libertés). Cases can also be taken to the “Controller General of Places of detainment facilities” ( contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté). Other factors affecting the carer/patient relation are : the obligation to inform patients and encourage them to play an active role in their own care programmes, changes to the mentoring system and the endorsement of the therapeutic patient education approach. There have been several highly interesting experiments and legal advances aimed at fostering individual empowerment. Collective empowerment, however, is still at the very early stages, the role of the French legal arsenal being for the most part restricted to compulsory hospital admission, mentoring and personal freedom. This article will focus on the need to move French codified law forward by creating legislative or regulatory structures with a view to de-stigmatizing mental illness and streamlining the coordination of the various healthcare providers involved (care homes, local mental health advisory services, etc.) or by adjusting certain legal boundaries (see bridging the health /medical-social gap).
Empowerment and mental health – a step forward for the French public health system - 2016.
5
Driven by international standards and case law guidelines, French law has been amended to encourage the “empowerment” of the mentally ill. For patients detained in hospitals, carer/patient dynamics have changed, thanks to the systematic involvement of the “judge of freedoms” ( juge des libertés). Cases can also be taken to the “Controller General of Places of detainment facilities” ( contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté). Other factors affecting the carer/patient relation are : the obligation to inform patients and encourage them to play an active role in their own care programmes, changes to the mentoring system and the endorsement of the therapeutic patient education approach. There have been several highly interesting experiments and legal advances aimed at fostering individual empowerment. Collective empowerment, however, is still at the very early stages, the role of the French legal arsenal being for the most part restricted to compulsory hospital admission, mentoring and personal freedom. This article will focus on the need to move French codified law forward by creating legislative or regulatory structures with a view to de-stigmatizing mental illness and streamlining the coordination of the various healthcare providers involved (care homes, local mental health advisory services, etc.) or by adjusting certain legal boundaries (see bridging the health /medical-social gap).
Réseaux sociaux