Pierre Janet Center - presentation [english]

Hello,

I wish to talk to you about the Pierre Janet Centre - newly created, at the University of Lorraine, at the end of 2015.  This represents a genuine innovation at national level and will make a real contribution to the education of future generations of psychologists and psychotherapists. It also represents a major step forward for the Metz site in particular. In the international context this might seem odd, but in French universities, the subject of psychotherapy is hardly taught at all. Only the theory was presented and, in truth, the only psychotherapeutic model really presented was psychoanalysis.  We believe that this position is outdated, hence the need to offer new horizons and opportunities for our students by creating a centre for education at the University of Lorraine in Metz - a centre for research but, above all, for the practice of psychotherapy or psychotherapies. Finally, note that in France, the regulations governing the title of psychotherapist only came into force recently. Today, a Master's in Psychology is sufficient (i.e. 5 years post-BAC) as it confers the right to use the titles of both psychologist and psychotherapist. Thus, teaching students to become good practitioners is insufficient. This is why we felt we had to act. The Pierre Janet Centre offers a response to this situation.

The key objective of the Pierre Janet Centre is to become an active psychosocial player that contributes to the analysis of new issues. This means opening the doors of the university and its laboratories instead of closing in on ourselves. Psychology must play a leading role in the social environment. The Pierre Janet Centre will be the means whereby we reconquer this territory. Child protection, the treatment of chronic diseases and traumatic events such as assaults, attacks or violence.

The Pierre Janet Centre is structured around three units:

• a consultation unit dedicated to the clinical practice of psychotherapy;
• an education unit, for the dissemination of knowledge and skills, generally for University Degrees or Inter-University Degrees. This will therefore be a contribution to the dissemination of knowledge and expertise in the field of psychopathology and psychotherapeutic practice.
• However, we are based in a university - so clinical practice and the dissemination of knowledge should only be envisaged insofar as they are also able to produce and validate knowledge, hence the need to coordinate them through a research unit, about which I will make some comments later.

I will define these three units as follows: first, the consultation unit - a real innovation in terms of the Pierre Janet Centre project because this will be one of the rare occasions in France where psychotherapy is practised in a university.  In other words, anybody needing treatment will be able to come for a consultation as they would go to a general practice or public clinic.  Anybody will be able to request a consultation at the Pierre Janet Centre at the University of Lorraine, on the Saulcy site in Metz. Adults, children and families will therefore benefit from the support of expert psychologists and psychotherapists who, in turn, will actually benefit from this support through payment for their consultations. This also means providing families, children and people who have faced difficult life events with expert support, because the openly expressed ambition of the Pierre Janet Centre is to be a genuine repository of expertise in the area of treatment.

The Pierre Janet Centre project also seeks to provide those on limited means with access to high-level consultation. This is why we have devised the "suspended consultation" whereby sponsors purchase consultations in advance for us to distribute later to those who have the greatest need. We have met with private sponsors and have acquired the necessary funding. The "Consultation is suspended" in that it awaits redistribution to the poor, based on criteria to be defined later, notably income.  Likewise, together with the Moselle department’s League Against Cancer, we have developed a targeted suspended consultation to enable those affected by cancer, particularly cancer sufferers, to have their treatment provided by the League Against Cancer.  Hence, the League Against Cancer purchased the consultation that we will be able to distribute to those needing treatment. This principle of "suspended consultation" - a new and highly innovative creation whose goal is actually to help the poor - has been made possible thanks to the University of Lorraine's foundation, through which private sponsors can benefit from a tax rebate of 66%.

The second aspect of the Pierre Janet Centre is the education unit.  This involves contributing to the dissemination of knowledge in the area of psychotherapy and health psychology.  The aim is to ensure that new practices are disseminated, that knowledge is made available to psychologists and health and social care professionals. The Pierre Janet Centre aims to be the place where lifelong learning is possible for all psychology and health professionals. Over many years we have also created several recognized study courses covering a range of domains such as EMDR, positive psychology, sexology, psychotraumatology and training for psychotherapeutic practice.

But the Pierre Janet Centre will also seek to contribute actively to the production of knowledge through research.  Research will be a key part of the life of the Pierre Janet Centre, with the idea of validating new practices, evaluating the efficacy of new forms of treatment - for example, the role of new technologies in the development of modern psychotherapies. We will therefore need to produce a procedure for establishing reliable, robust and substantial research protocols - hence the idea of creating a true platform organized around the recruitment of a high level epidemiologist to enable those actors and researchers involved with the Pierre Janet Centre (or those interested in the same issues) to find the resources and skills for the development of research protocols. Research output will obviously be published and will therefore stimulate the creation of new courses and will be reflected, within the unit, by development and gradual change in psychotherapeutic practices.

Today, the Pierre Janet Centre has brought together a number of partners, who trust in us - private and public partners who have made financial contributions to establish and help to sustain the Centre.  I'm thinking in particular of the Cora group or the MGEN (Ministry of Education) at national level, our major sponsors, and also the Moselle League Against Cancer. We have also received the unstinting support of Metz Metropole, the Moselle Departmental Council, the Grand Est regional council and the European Community, through ERDF funding.  The Centre's budget is substantial - around 5-6 million Euros which should enable its long-term sustainability and the recruitment of the staff needed to support us in the development of the centre.

The inauguration of the Pierre Janet Centre will take place on 29 June 2016, and we are honoured and delighted to be able to welcome our sponsor Boris Cyrulnik. Boris will deliver a lecture on the evening of 29 June at the Arsenal, with the title "Psychotherapy and Brain". The evening will also be the occasion of the signing of the various agreements with the different partners who will support us in this completely new venture in France.

The Pierre Janet Centre were also involved in providing treatment for the victims of the Paris attacks in November 2015.  The Pierre Janet Centre seeks to provide better training for professionals, the new generations of professionals who wish to come as a complement to the care system in the social environment, both private and public.  The Pierre Janet Centre is also a civic project, notably through the invention and development of the suspended consultation.

I hope that this brief presentation has been sufficiently illuminating in its outline of the Pierre Janet Centre and the things that are gradually being implemented. Very soon you will be able to access the Centre's website for further information with greater detail on the different activities and approaches of the Centre.  Thank you for your time, I hope to see you again soon.