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Ikairos Culture du Soin: an association promoting the mental health of healthcare students. Why are there so few participants ?

Claire PICATTO

Ikairos Culture du Soin is a non-profit organization created in 2023 by Doctors Cloé Brami and Solène Blanchin in response to the deteriorating mental health of healthcare students. Since January 2025, it offers multi-monthly videoconference workshops in mind-body practices. These workshops are led by healthcare professionals and are reserved for health students. Despite regular communication on social media and contact with 37 french universities, very few students participate in the workshops. This contrasts with the catastrophic state of mental health among french medical students: according to a 2024 survey(1): 21% of students experience suicidal thoughts, 52% experience anxiety symptoms, 66% suffer from burnout, 24% have eating disorders. The need for solutions is urgent. The main hypothesis is that our communication strategy is inadequate. How can we be attractive for students? What tools exist in other European countries? 1. Anemf , Isnar -IMG, Isni +. Survey on the mental health of medical students from the second year to the end of their residency [Press kit]. 2024We do the presentation with a PowerPoint, questioning participants about their knowledge of the state of mental health and existing support in France, the post-it note method to explore communication barriers and participants' expectations.This presentation is intended to be interactive.This presentation aims to present the association, to raise awareness among workshop participants about the mental health challenges faced by healthcare students; to provide an overview of existing resources and the role of the association's services.We want to gather the experiences of the different participants, their expectations, and to leave with concrete actions to implement.This presentation has a triple objective: to highlight the alarming state of mental health among health students; to raise awareness of Ikairos Culture du soin; to reflect together on how to improve the availability of the association's workshops to students.