The Chesnaie psychiatric clinic, a symbol for sale

The Chesnaie psychiatric clinic, in Chailles (Loir-et-Cher), on May 18, 2022.

In the great hall of Le Boissier, a chalet painted pink, a young woman dressed in a wedding veil seizes the piano and plays the concerto noh 21 by Mozart. The melodious sound masks the distant rattle of cereal field irrigators. Residents come and go, some stare at each other without speaking, others hold out their hands to the first comer. A solitary man in a threadbare jacket vociferates that he cannot find his lighter.

In a few days, an official call for tenders will be published and the price will be fixed: the psychiatric clinic of La Chesnaie, on the outskirts of Blois, will be put up for sale by the head doctor, Jean-Louis Place, its owner since 1988, the date at which he had taken over from neuropsychiatrist Claude Jeangirard, who had created the establishment in 1956, at the age of 31. La Chesnaie, in Chailles, La Borde, in Cour-Cheverny, Saumery, in Huisseau-sur-Cosson: all these clinics in Loir-et-Cher were opened after the Second World War by brilliant Parisian doctors, delighted to be able to acquire at a good price castles surrounded by greenery and to replace the large psychiatric units in the Ile-de-France, where confinement was self-evident.

La Chesnaie is emblematic. Not to say mythical. Fifty-five hectares of deciduous forests and, in the middle, a castle near which, over the years, listed buildings have been added. The clinic now has 101 hospital beds, 20 day hospital beds and a few night beds. Almost all patients suffer from serious disorders and are referred by the public hospital. All participate in a range of important activities – workshops, hotel tasks, catering – with the nursing staff. Who wears neither blouse nor badge: nothing distinguishes him, except the discreet walkie-talkie placed on the table when it’s time to drink, together, once.

Florian Persillet, Gwenvaël Loarer, Jean Gaillot and Magalie Tostain (from left to right), who work at the Chesnaie clinic, in Chailles (Loir-et-Cher), members of the association which carries out the project to take over the establishment, during a meeting, on May 18, 2022.

It is an institutional psychotherapy which is based on the non-confinement of patients, themselves victims of their mental confinement, desocialized by the disease. ” Prescribing medication is not enough. The patient needs exchanges and tasks to regain confidence and “re-narcissize” we hear. The five doctors are liberals. The clinic also has 80 employees, called monitors here. With their diplomas in nursing, art therapy, psychology, they also work in catering, cleaning, cultural activities, etc.

” Upgrading “

“There are residents who will try to fall in love. Or others who will harbor a fear of being looked at several times by the same person, afraid that this person will harm them. By changing tasks regularly, this makes it possible to clean up the relationship because we come to restore fluidity in the things that trigger anxiety, ” says Gwenvael Loarer, instructor and psychologist, currently in the “room sector”, accompanying the residents to their consultations. He is very attached to gestures and prosody. “I spend a lot of time de-dramatizing situations. For that, you have to know how to show on a daily basis that you yourself are not at all worrying. » A skinny lady passes us, wide-eyed: “ She lives convinced that scissors will come at night to cut her body, Gwenvael whispers.

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