After a difficult treatment path in psychiatry, Charlotte wishes to become a peer helper in Montpellier

Après avoir vécu un parcours de soins difficile, Charlotte Carugati souhaite devenir pair-aidante. Midi Libre

Arriving from Canada, this new concept consists of supporting patients after having experienced the same pathology. In France, its development will take place through Hérault, and more precisely in Montpellier. 

Charlotte Carugati can finally project herself. After more than 30 years of care, psychological support, relapses and internment, the 33-year-old young woman is about to get married. "We wouldn't have bet five cents on me back then", exclaims Charlotte.

From the age of three, professionals detected behavioral problems in him. "I’was diagnosed as bipolar, borderline and hypersensitive. During my life, I have met hundreds of doctors, tested as many treatments", explains the woman who wanted to become a journalist.

A journey strewn with pitfalls

Detecting a pathology is one thing. Dealing with it and living with it is another. Three decades after her first meeting with health professionals, the bill is steep for Charlotte. "Mental health is very expensive. In time, in energy but also financially because many treatments are not reimbursed", she explains. "We find ourselves interned in unsuitable centers, mixed with patients who suffer from other problems… ", sighs the future bride.

Such significant problems therefore prevent women from working. Mood stabilizers, antidepressants, sleeping pills or anxiolytics, "I needed Disabled Adult Assistance (AAH) to survive but even then, it’s a journey strewn with pitfalls to obtain it". Because like a lot of help, it depends on the department. "We can get it in 06 and not in 34 in the same way. The paperwork is endless and when we are fragile, when we think about suicide daily, we cannot, in addition, show intelligence" , she estimates.

A game-changing encounter

It was in 2017, when the young woman seemed to be stabilizing, that Charlotte had an encounter that would change her life. "I went to a trade fair specializing in mental health, on International Bipolar Disorder Day (March 30, Editor's note). That's when I understood that people were going through the same thing as me". No longer feel alone, discuss similar journeys… "All the stories are different but many come together", she explains.

When we think about suicide daily, we cannot be intelligent

Simple meeting ? Not really. "A lady had started a peer-help process. I then discovered a solution that I had never heard of", Charlotte is surprised. Peer assistance is when a former patient, in the process of recovery, accompanies a person in difficulty to help them through the care process. "J& rsquo;learned that I had to keep my prescriptions since my first treatments, to bypass certain administrations to hope to obtain help… Without this person, we don't have this information, she explains.

Investigative work in Hérault

This peer helper, Charlotte will always be grateful to her. But it’s now his turn to offer this help. "I have just spent four weeks in Pignan, to understand how we could provide this help to the department's patients. My personal experience is a strength that I must share", she believes.

Neither medical nor social, but a bridge between all professionals, that’s how the young woman describes herself. "In psychiatry, some will speak more easily in front of a person who is not a doctor. I am there to listen, advise, but above all to bridge the gap between the different actors in the care pathway. A huge job, because the hexagon only has one thirty peer helpers called “professionals”.
To do this, Charlotte plans to settle in the Montpellier region, "It’is one of the regions with the most efficient structures in the country"< /em>, she explains. "The medical world is just starting to realize this innovation", she concludes. Case to be continued…