Together, Let’s Fight Against Loneliness #France

IAYSP France laid the foundations for a Zoom event on the theme, “Together, let’s fight against loneliness”.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, wellbeing, employment, and access to education have become the main concerns of young people aged eighteen to twenty-five years old. The pandemic resulted in higher levels of distress among young adults, ages eighteen to twenty-nine, compared to other age groups.

Despite these serious challenges, youth continued to contribute in both small and large ways to the wellbeing and happiness of others and themselves, through various means centered on the values of Responsibility, Integrity, Service, Empathy (RISE).

To help youth and students, IAYSP assembled a dynamic youth panel consisting of three people. The panellists included: Rafaël Guignard, certified coach in Personal Development, founder of the Family Harmony Coaching and Peace Starts With Me Academy; Dadastone Ipoma, research engineer in Biological and Medical Engineering – that has worked for more than seventeen years in research laboratories of infectious diseases in DRC, in Belgium at the Europe clinic, and France at the IHU Marseille; and Aurélie Dumas, Hospital Service Agent in a retirement home and who has been training to become an art therapist since June 2020.

The event took place in two parts. During the first part, the panelists answered questions that aimed at analyzing “the problem of loneliness” linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and then proposed plausible solutions to overcoming difficulties and isolation.

During the second part of the event, each panelist gave a presentation focused on promoting tools or projects that can assist in challenging feelings of loneliness.

Rafaël Guignard presented ideas in living better during the pandemic times.

Aurélie Dumas presented art therapy and allowed the participants to undertake a brief practice session.

Dadastone Ipoma took the opportunity to present the “Project of distribution of food and hygiene kits to students in precariousness”, which will be completed in partnership with IAYSP France on May 29, 2021, in Paris.

This event reached twenty-four participants; fourteen people on Zoom and ten people on the live broadcast on our Facebook page.