The 20th
anniversary
edition
March 14 & 15, 2025
at UNESCO • Paris

The Alliance for Mental Health (Alliance pour la santé mentale) brings together a wide range of stakeholders from the mental health sector, the economy, culture, higher education, education, and research to make mental health a national priority. What stakeholders are you looking to mobilize around this alliance, and with what perspective in mind?

Angèle Malâtre-Lansac: Mental health has become a major societal issue, one that is being increasingly discussed since the health crisis. It's important to remember that every year, 20% of the population is affected by a mental disorder, meaning 13 million people. Young people are particularly affected, with a doubling of anxiety and depression symptoms since the Covid crisis and a worrying rise in suicidal behavior.

This issue impacts all of society today: families, the workforce, youth, education, local governments, the fields of inclusion and disability... Mental health is not just a healthcare issue; it has become everyone's business.

The Alliance for Mental Health was created to mobilize and raise awareness in various sectors of society about the importance of mental health and to engage them in the "National Cause 2025". The organization co-leads the Santé Mentale Grande cause nationale collective, representing over 3,000 organizations, institutions, and associations in the mental health field. For over a year, we have been working to make this issue the National Cause in 2025, engaging many experts across the country.

The goal of the National Cause is to better inform the public about mental health and disorders, prevent their onset, and reduce the stigma surrounding this issue, which is still largely taboo.

Mental health has been established as the National Cause for 2025, and you have joined an expert group tasked with supporting and guiding the government's action. The government recently presented its priority objectives to promote mental health: destigmatize, inform, prevent, and strengthen access to care and solutions across the country. How do you think these objectives can be achieved in practice?

The Prime Minister has chosen to position this National Cause with both an interministerial and multi-year approach, which we are pleased about. I have been appointed alongside Daniel Fasquelle, mayor of Le Touquet and president of the Autism Commission of the Association of Mayors of France, and Professeur Michel Lejoyeux, president of the National Psychiatry Commission, to support the government's efforts throughout this National Cause.

The challenge today is to set the stage for a profound societal change on the subject, to identify concrete measures that will transform the lives of affected individuals, and to run information, training, and awareness campaigns targeted at different groups, while leveraging the structures and organizations that work daily on this issue across the country.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the University of the Earth, you will speak on March 14 to discuss the urgency of mental health issues. What are your expectations for this intervention, and what message do you hope to convey?

Thank you for the invitation, I’m truly excited! The idea is to remind everyone of the fundamentals of mental health: what we’re talking about and why this issue is so important. Information is always key on this topic, which is still not well understood. But above all, my goal is to place mental health within the One Health framework: we have a single health system, which consists of both our physical and mental health and is the result of a combination of determinants: social, environmental, genetic, etc. It's time to consider this issue holistically, and it seems to me that the University of the Earth is the perfect place to present this 360-degree vision.

There are many preconceptions about mental health, and this subject remains taboo in many areas, especially in the business world. Do you think a change in mentality is possible, and how could the workplace engage significantly with this issue?

The taboos are still strong, and mental health issues are often mistakenly associated with weakness, lack of performance, or even violence. It’s high time to break these stereotypes: people affected by mental health disorders can recover, live fulfilling lives, and work.

The issue of mental health at work is a major one, and mental disorders are the leading cause of long-term sick leave. The world of work and employers are therefore directly impacted and have a role to play by implementing prevention measures, providing information, and improving working conditions. There is much to be done in this area.