The Haute Ecole de la Province de Namur (HEPN) organised its first training event on digital health during the KIKK festival, festival of innovation in Namur, Belgium.
This first edition of two-days training and debates on the power of new technologies in mental health was quickly sold out.
Nearly fifty professionals participated to this event which had a triple objective: to demystify, to become aware of the potential and to test digital tools in the mental health sector. Overall, the aim was to open minds and to be able to build an enlightened opinion.
After the introduction by Cécile Thioux, Director of the HEPN health department, we had the pleasure of hearing a fresh presentation by Macha Dubuson, Doctor of Psychology, who explained the concepts of stress and anxiety, their consequences, differences and why it should not be ignored.
Then Thierry Vermeeren, e-Health expert and scientific director of the Digital Patient Community, through his international and varied experience, detailed how “digital health” can create new links between the digital and the health sector and can have an important role.
Some start-ups then presented their project in a few minutes. We had the opportunity to test these solutions throughout these 2 days. Between health applications, portable electrocardiograms, virtual reality headsets, or anti-stress tools, there was a large panel of tools for all tastes and applications.
After these presentations, Gaetan Absil, anthropologist at Helmo, indicated which questions to ask between the technophiles and the technoresistants in order to develop a tool with regard to the needs.
Lawyer Lina Williate closed this first day by showing us through multiple examples linked to her profession, how technologies modify the posture of the patient and the career, how the temporality and the specificity of the relationship are shaken up.
On the second day, after an introduction by Dr Serge Mertens, So Yung Straga, Director of Shared Patient Experience, passionately explained why the care relationship is part of the care and as such has a non-negligible impact on the quality of the care.
There is only one step between empathy and compassion: action.
In order to unravel, debate and dare to put the words down, Thierry Vermeeren spoke to us about how digital health is transforming professional practices and impacting both the career and the patients.
This event ended with the Kikk festival, a festival full of innovation players and a place of inspiring meetings.
At the end of this face-to-face training, the participants received access to our virtual online training platform to continue to expand their knowledge.
The first of a long series that will be adapted according to demand and feedback from our participants, that will be exported to the project partners’ countries and that will continue to live on through future projects.
Stay tuned and contact us to find out more!