Théo Lacoste: well-being at the heart of your VDE's priorities
Each year, students elect a representative to represent them at the dean's office level. This year, Théo Lacoste, a fourth-year medical student at the ADV campus, was chosen to represent you. Learn more about him and Ademmoos' activities in this interview! Portrait.
Hello Theo, first of all, who are you? Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Théo Lacoste, and I am a fourth-year medical student at the ADV campus. I am also an elected student representative on the academic council and president of Ademmoos (elected students from all disciplines). I am aiming to become a doctor, of course, but I don't necessarily have a specific specialty in mind, other than specializing in something cross-disciplinary like emergency medicine. But I'm open to other possibilities. I think it's important to do several internships in different fields to be sure about your future!
You are president of Ademmoos: can you remind us what this association does?
It should be noted that our faculty has several campuses and several programs. Student representation on the various councils is therefore ensured by elected student representatives. This is a very significant undertaking. In 2016, we therefore decided to create this association to free elected students from the groundwork (particularly everything related to communication, infographics, etc.) but also to develop projects with other student associations. The aim is really to bring together, unite, and coordinate associations and, through them, students.
The members of the association are students elected to various representative councils, but we also have non-elected members. They often contribute very interesting insights from a different perspective at our monthly meetings.
Can you give us some examples of projects coordinated by Ademmoos and other associations?
Yes, for example MAP (Montpellier Artistic Project), which is an association focused on the arts. We organized an art therapy workshop with them, led by a professional, for students, with the aim of combating stress related to their studies. But the projects we lead/coordinate can also be carried out outside of our associations. I am thinking in particular of the "Dry January" challenge (see Instagram post below) that we recently ran in collaboration with the ICM, or the "Tobacco-Free Month."
See this post on Instagram
In addition to being the president of Ademmoos, you are now Vice Dean of Students. Can you tell us more about your role in this position?
I have three main responsibilities: First, an academic responsibility, which is very institutional. I work closely with the dean's team, particularly Dean Isabelle Laffont, but also with the teaching and administrative teams to represent the students' views. This involves regularly attending meetings, but also listening to what is happening both at the student level and at the faculty level. I act as a kind of "shuttle" to pass information up and down the chain of command. I pass this information on to the student representatives, who then disseminate it to the various departments, sites, and classes.
The second mission focuses on the Ademmoos association. I have to provide "guidance" on the policy for our term of office. I will come back to this later, but the idea is to divide up the important issues among the 40 students in the association: some will deal with reforms, others with welfare or coordination with other associations.
My third mission is really to be in direct contact with the students. I can be contacted for this purpose by the class representatives, but that's not enough, as information can get lost. So, I make it a point of honor to organize as many face-to-face meetings as possible with the different classes to discuss, "take the temperature," and gather information directly from the students about their needs and feelings. This information is then useful to me in my first academic mission, in order to convey the students' wishes as accurately as possible.
What are the priorities of your term of office?
There are several priority areas. First, there is a slightly more academic and administrative aspect, which mainly involves continuing the work of my predecessors, Salomé Duteurtre and Florian Mary. They both worked on what I call the "Educational Alliance." That is to say, the co-construction of our student life journey, with all stakeholders: teachers, students, and the faculty's administrative staff.
It seems simple from the outside, but it is actually quite complex, because we have to reconcile everyone's opinions and ultimately succeed in finding agreements based on our disagreements! However, this is done with everyone's goodwill and mutual understanding. We must work together and look at the issues to be resolved through each person's perspective, so that the solutions adopted are beneficial to everyone. This duty to live together is truly essential, and we regularly remind the whole team of this, most recently to the newly elected student representatives on the management and teaching councils.
Then there are all the considerations surrounding student well-being. This is something that is fairly new, which wasn't talked about much a few years ago and which has been brought to light by the health crisis. Today more than ever, this issue has become our top priority.
But we can't take action without knowing the extent of the problem! So we set ourselves the initial goal of gathering students' opinions and experiences through surveys. We collected more than 1,000 responses to our first questionnaire on mental health, which was distributed during the winter— I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who responded! The results of this survey are currently being processed. In addition, a few weeks ago we began distributing a new survey on gender-based and sexual violence that students may experience at the university, in the evening, or at their workplace/internship in order to define the scope of the problem and thus identify corrective actions to limit incidents or even punish them if necessary.
In practice, do you implement measures to promote student well-being?
Yes, from a practical point of view, this year we created a wellness center with two project managers who are medical students (Ulysse Godin and Maribelle Dossou-Yovo). Their mission is to organize awareness-raising events. For example, there was a conference on addiction with Professor Hélène Donnadieu-Rigole, Tobacco-Free Month, Dry January, etc. In March, we will have a conference on psychosocial risks and workaholism. These events are quite popular with students.
There are also other practical projects outside the theme of "well-being," such as the Internal Future Forum, which is led by former Vice Dean Florian Mary and aims to connect fifth- and sixth-year students with interns so they can share their experiences.
What motivated you to take on this elected role as Vice Dean?
My motivation came from my previous commitments, both at Ademmoos and at ANEMF (Association Nationale des Etudiants en Médecine de France), because last year I was very involved in issues surrounding R2C (reform of the second cycle of medical studies) at the national level. This made me want to get even more involved at the local level, on issues that we encounter on a daily basis.
Of course, discussions with my predecessors also had a strong influence on me. Everything then fell into place very naturally, with the desire to help future students guiding my choices. I wanted to see my studies from a different perspective.
Afterwards, yes, it's very time-consuming. It can sometimes be a bit difficult to juggle everything! So it's important to surround yourself with the right people and know how to delegate. In this regard, I would particularly like to thank Florent Benoist, who is General VP of Ademmoos and representative on the Educational Council. He helps me a lot and enables me to organize myself effectively.
How is one elected Vice Dean?
The Vice Dean is nominated by the student representatives on the Management Board. He or she is often included on the list of elected students. The Council then votes for or against the proposed student. This proposal is discussed internally within Ademmoos beforehand. Once elected, the Vice Dean serves for two years, but we often resign after one year in order to focus on our studies.
Thank you very much for this conversation: do you have any final words?
Yes, regarding one of the priorities of my term, well-being. I would like to convey the following message: it's okay not to be okay. Health students come from a highly selective system where you always have to be the best. Culturally, it's difficult for us to say when we're not doing well; we tend to hide our weaknesses. However, it's not abnormal to feel bad! There are support services available on the Faculty's website. We need to break the silence surrounding this taboo and take advantage of the resources developed jointly by students and the faculty to feel better. Alone, we go faster, but together, we go further!
