The Université de la terre is a unique European gathering dedicated to reflection, sharing, and debate to inspire action. Over the course of two days, it offers discoveries and exchanges open to all, addressing the major challenges we face for our planet, the living world, and social cohesion. The 2022 edition brought together 10,000 participants.
On March 14 and 15, 2025, the University celebrated its 20th anniversary under the theme “NATURE = FUTURE,” underlining what may seem obvious: the vital need for humanity to reconnect with nature, on which its very survival depends.
The “One Sustainable Health for All” Foundation co-organized four sessions focused on health:
- How much does our health depend on the health of our planet?
- Changing our lifestyles, healing humanity
- Mental health: a silent emergency, voices rising
- Healing through food
Mental health: a silent emergency, but voices are starting to be heard
Moderated by journalist and facilitator Edwige Coupez, this event brought together experts from a variety of fields: Cynthia Fleury, philosopher and psychoanalyst, Professor and Chair of “Humanities and Health” at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Cnam); Tim Greacen, outgoing Director and founder of the Research Laboratory on Mental Health, Humanities and Social Sciences at GHU Paris Psychiatry & Neurosciences; Lilâ Le Bas, Director of Societal Engagement at Macif; Angèle Malatre-Lansac, Executive Director of the Alliance for Mental Health; and Maxime Perez Zitvogel, co-founder of La Maison Perchée.
With one in five French citizens affected by a mental health disorder and 40% of students showing symptoms of depression, mental health has become a major public health issue.
And yet, it remains largely neglected: absurdly long waiting times, overwhelmed facilities, struggling professionals, and persistent stigma.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the Université de la Terre, a conference held at UNESCO brought together researchers, philosophers, psychiatrists, and representatives from civil society and mutual health organizations. Their ambition: to collectively promote a more global, inclusive, and systemic vision of mental health. A silent emergency that has become a collective outcry.
A symptom of a society under strain
The Covid-19 pandemic revealed the depth of a structural malaise. Repeated lockdowns exacerbated existing vulnerabilities, deepened inequalities, and strained both the healthcare system and social bonds.
For Cynthia Fleury, professor at GHU Paris Psychiatry & Neurosciences:
“Mental health is a barometer of our collective capacity to care. A civilization that does not care is nothing.”
She points to a worrying rise in anxiety disorders, eco-anxiety, distress among young people and healthcare workers, and an increased vulnerability to what she calls “political anxiety”: a pervasive sense of global collapse.
Moving beyond a purely medical approach
All the speakers agreed: mental health cannot be reduced to pathology. It is a subjective and evolving state of well-being, shaped by multiple factors—housing, employment, education, environment, social relationships, and diet.
“There is no health without mental health,” reminds Angèle Malâtre-Lansac, Executive Director of the Alliance for Mental Health.
“It concerns 100% of the population.”
Tim Greacen, mental health researcher, advocates for a paradigm shift:
“We must move from a disease-based policy to a health-based policy. And that starts at school.”
A System in Breakdown
On the ground, the figures speak for themselves. Maxime Perez Zitvogel, co-founder of La Maison Perchée, paints a sobering picture:
“Two years of waiting for child psychiatry in Paris. Three to nine months in community organizations. We receive distress calls every day, from everywhere.”
What makes this situation even more alarming is that mental health professionals themselves are in great distress, suffering from burnout and lack of recognition.
“Care needs to be reinvented — including for those who provide it,” emphasizes Cynthia Fleury.
Three Priority Areas to Rethink Our Response
1. Educate from an early age — and throughout life
Tim Greacen insists:
“Mental health is learned the same way we learn how to live. To dream, imagine, feel, be moved, love, sleep, cry, laugh, regret, hope, grieve, marvel. And not just alone, but together. And we are all different. Embracing those differences from a young age is part of learning to live.”
Integrating psychological and social skills into school curricula is essential — and still underdeveloped in France. But it’s not just about school. It starts at home. At work. On vacation. In maternity wards. In neighborhoods. In elder care homes. Even at cemeteries. It’s lifelong. And France has a wealth of cultural assets to support this approach.
2. Prevent through cross-sectoral action
According to Angèle Malâtre-Lansac:
“A true mental health policy means addressing all of its determinants: poverty, housing, sleep, diet, mobility.”
The goal is to build protective environments — in schools, companies, and universities — and embed mental health prevention in a lasting way.
3. Destigmatize to include
Maxime Perez puts it plainly:
“The real battle is educating those who aren’t affected yet. We can’t remain in our own bubble.”
Breaking down stigma, valuing lived experience, and making the invisible visible are powerful tools to normalize conversations around mental health.
Concrete Initiatives Already in Motion
Faced with institutional inertia, some are taking action:
La Maison Perchée offers a welcoming, non-medical space for peer support and personal reconstruction.
“Sometimes what heals is a look. A bond. A moment of listening.”
Macif, through Lilâ Le Bas, supports the Mental Health Ambassadors program: young people trained to speak to other young people about mental health, fostering peer-based prevention.
The Philosophy in Hospitals Chair (led by Cynthia Fleury) is experimenting with co-designed care practices: self-regulation workshops, caregiver training, “nature and health” protocols, and care designed with patients themselves.
“The knowledge of the vulnerable is a lever for innovation.”
Could the 2025 “Grande Cause” Be a Catalyst for Change?
Naming mental health as France’s National Cause for 2025 is a powerful symbolic step. For Angèle Malâtre-Lansac, it must be more than a signal — it must be a catalyst:
“Inform, prevent, destigmatize, facilitate access to care — these are the four pillars we must act on together.”
But expectations are high: the challenge is to move from isolated actions to systemic change — training all professionals (including teachers, social workers, HR staff), supporting research, reforming governance, funding alternatives, and recognizing mental health as a core pillar of the social contract.
Conclusion: Toward an Ecology of Connection
Mental health is more than a health crisis — it reveals a crisis of connection, meaning, and community.
Rethinking care means rethinking how we live, dwell, work, educate, age, and love.
As Cynthia Fleury puts it:
“It’s time to imagine new ways of relating to oneself — and to others.”
Educate. Connect. Heal.
Mental health is everyone’s concern, and it reveals a deeper challenge: our collective ability to build a society that cares.
