Marie-Sophie ROBIN, Clinical psychologist, has been working with UNAFAM for over 10 years, facilitating discussion groups for families caring for a loved one with a mental illness, and training families and medical and social care professionals on mental health issues to help them better understand and support those affected.

Ms Evelyne Gorisse, Engaged as a volunteer with the UNAFAM association, personally affected by her son's mental illness, and a peer supporter for over 12 years, helping families coping with the mental illness of a loved one.

Mental health is now a central concern in society. Mental health issues affect all generations, with a marked increase among young people, influenced by digital misuse, dependencies and addictions, often leading to isolation and significant distress. Stress at work, illness, separation and bereavement can also trigger these symptoms, which can be confusing and sometimes worrying, but which above all are a sign of suffering.

And when mental illness strikes a family, it causes multiple collateral damage. With psychiatry having suffered heavy losses in resources over the past thirty years, we will see how professionals and families can work together to develop a care pathway. This discussion will help us to decipher these conditions in order to better understand them and change our perspective so that we can reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.