In life, Catherine Lejeune is driven by a search for meaning and a passion for content. Since the beginning of her career, she has contributed to numerous magazines whose aim was to provide us with tools: Cultured and well-behaved, Right to speak, 1045 rue des Parlementaires Or Above all.
Photo provided by Matili Clark
For several years she served as director of society magazines for Télé-Québec and then as content director for Juste pour Laughs. She has just returned from a year-long trip around the world that took her to all corners of the world where she did volunteer work. Since then, she has dedicated herself to writing human stories for the company “My Biography” and agreed to dive back into the world of television with “Bien dans ma tête”. This magazine empowers people to make informed decisions when it comes to a sensitive topic where it is important to separate fact from fiction.
How do you think this project fills a need?
Well-being is the topic of the hour. The idea was to unite health and science, because there is no place where researchers, specialists and scientists have a voice. We have the opportunity to produce research that might change things. Since the pandemic, we have been offered many trends on the web. Several are questionable. And anyone can become a specialist. We empower viewers to imagine and empower them to make their decisions without having to tell them what to do.
What limits have you set for yourself so as not to fall into an overly scientific discourse or pointlessness?
It is important for our station that the content is profound without falling into platitudes or psychopop. Pascale (Lévesque) and Martin (Carli) quickly adopted a warm tone that appealed to the world. We didn’t want scientific language aimed at scientists. We look for topics that affect most people and for which there are references. And we analyze the phenomenon to understand it better. Heartbreak for example: We found that researchers from Quebec are currently interested. It’s about well-being. It’s fascinating to understand what goes through our minds when we have such an experience, to understand how we deal with it and why it remains a sad memory for some.
Why is the experiment of two journalists (Simon Coutu and Mayssa Ferah) important?
Many practices come to us through social media. We wanted them to come to us and explain how it works, test them and tell us what they experienced. They are also our gateway to specialists. Personality tests, tree hugging, SCMR, these are phenomena that we wanted to understand. But it’s not the result that’s important, it’s the experience that counts. Sometimes there is nothing scientific about these tests, but as one of our researchers says: Is science always obliged to explain everything? If they are not harmful, why not?
Based on your research, are there areas where Quebec stands out in terms of well-being?
There are topics that may seem trivial. Floating pools, for example. At the beginning we thought we were being very critical. Then we realized that we were the first in Quebec to analyze the effects of floating pools on concussions. We are very advanced in everything related to Alzheimer’s and dementia. We only had 12 shows to go, but we quickly realized that well-being is a never-ending topic.
We are in the age of misinformation. How do you choose topics that make a difference?
Anything to do with the brain and psychology affects everyone. With our first show, we knew right away that we had to deal with the stress of going back to school. Sleep is a topic we haven’t finished talking about yet. And there are all the ethical questions that are essential today. For example, when we observe everything that is presented to us in the search for rejuvenation. It ranges from products to interventions, including diets and invasive surgeries. Wellbeing touches each of our five senses and impacts our mental health. It is important as a society to think and make good decisions in order to get better.
►Well, in my head Wednesday 7:30 p.m. at Télé-Québec