The Maison de l'enfance et de l'adolescence at the HUG opens its doors!
The Maison de l'enfance et de l'adolescence is reinventing the hospital with an innovative concept that opens up to the community and aims to de-stigmatise mental health care for young people. This brand-new care centre at the University Hospitals of Geneva offers comprehensive care for the mental health of children and adolescents, as well as medical consultations for young people up to the age of 25, all while integrating culture, the arts and the sciences.
Infancy, childhood and adolescence are times of great vulnerability, both somatically and psychologically. Health problems linked to changes in society and behaviour emerge or are reinforced: behavioural, relationship and communication disorders, substance abuse, cyberaddictions, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), eating disorders, obesity, self-mutilation, depression, suicidal thoughts, acts of violence. It was in response to this reality that the HUG designed and built the MEA, a space in which children, adolescents, young adults and their parents should feel at ease and can receive care, advice and guidance.
Bertrand Levrat, Director General of the HUG, explains that "the MEA was conceived as a 'hospital with a difference', destigmatising psychiatry, located in the city centre and open to the young people of Geneva, whether they need medical care or not".
- A complete chain of care
The MEA offers a complete chain of care, including inpatient, day hospital and outpatient consultations, for child and adolescent mental health and adolescent and young adult medicine. It brings together all the consultations and inpatient units, making the care pathways for young patients more fluid. The proximity of all the professionals will energise the teams and amplify synergies.
Therapeutic mediation, which consists of offering workshops based around an object (drawing, games, painting, for example) or an activity (dance, music, cooking, radio, etc.), is an integral part of the care provided to patients at the MEA. The new organisation of these clinical and research activities is under the direction of Dr Nathalie Nanzer, Medical Director a.i. of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service, and Pre Klara Posfay-Barbe, Medical Director of the General Paediatrics Service, who is also one of the investigators of the SEROCoV-KIDS study. SEROCoV-KIDS study.
The MEA has around 25 beds in comfortable, tastefully decorated rooms. The 6-storey, 14,600 m2 building also has a large garden and terrace linked to the cafeteria, a vegetable garden and play areas, just like in a big house. Wood is very much in evidence, creating an atmosphere conducive to mental health care.
- A new approach to mental health, combining medicine, culture and physical activity, open to the community
Psychiatric illness represents a breakdown in the links between the individual and his or her environment, in the broadest sense. For this reason, contemporary psychiatry defines itself as part of society, destigmatised and in touch with its environment. With the aim of creating a "different kind of hospital", the ground floor and basement of the building will be entirely dedicated to the arts, science, cinema, music and physical activities. These areas will be open to the public at all times.
Public exhibitions will be held, as well as workshops and lectures. Bioscope, the University of Geneva's public laboratory for life sciences and biomedical sciences, will be taking up residence here, hosting sessions and exhibitions. Workshops on biodiversity, health, genetics and neuroscience will be open to Geneva schools, from primary to secondary.
The MEA has a multi-purpose room for physical activities. Physical activity is recognised as having a beneficial effect on the mental health of children and adolescents. The MEA also has an auditorium, a projection room and a dance and music room. There is also a radio studio and a cooking laboratory. These cultural, educational and social activities will be organised by Artopie and the Convergences Foundationin partnership with the medical and care teams.
- Where exactly is the MEA located?
The MEA is located at 26 Boulevard de la Cluse, 1205 Geneva, next to the HUG Maternity Hospital.
From July onwards, the MEA will welcome its first patients, as well as the general public, at any time on the ground floor.
