(first posted July 2019)

Silver Santé Study Coordinator, Dr Gaël Chételat, was invited to take part in a conference on mindfulness meditation organised by the French Ministry of Health and Public Health France in Paris.

The event, which took place on 20^th June at the Ministry of Solidarity and Health, focused on the development of health and well-being interventions based on mindfulness and brought together experts from a variety of fields to discuss and question how mindfulness can be applied in society.

Dr Chételat presented the scope and aims of the Silver Santé Study as part of a roundtable session on the application of mindfulness interventions in different environments, which included ageing, justice, education, health and work.

“I was very pleased to take part in the meeting,” says Dr Chételat. “I think it helped dispel some of the misconceptions that exist about mindfulness meditation and made clear that it is a secular activity that is accessible to all in society.

“It also explored the potential for meditation to be used in a variety of environments – whether it’s at work, in education or in healthy ageing so the Silver Santé Study’s work investigating the impact of mental training techniques, like meditation and language-learning, was highly relevant.”

Dr Chételat was one of a number of scientists invited to speak at the meeting including Professor Jean-Gérard Bloch of the University of Strasbourg and Judson Brewer, Director of Research and the Mindfulness Centre at Brown University, US.  The meeting, facilitated by health journalist Elisabeth Marshall, was opened by the Director General of the French health department, Jerome Salomon.

For further information about the event visit the French Ministry of Health website here.

Caption: Dr Gaël Chételat (centre) taking part in a panel discussion with health journalist, Elisabeth Marshall (left), andDominique Steiler, Chair of “Economic Peace, Mindfulness and Well-being at Work” at Grenoble Ecole de Management.