Deligny lives in Paris with Josette Saleil, whom he met in Lille. In 1938, the father of François Châtelet (Deligny’s childhood friend) offers him a post as a substitute teacher in the primary school on Rue de la Brèche-aux-Loups, where Deligny will remain for four months. He finishes the school year working at a different school in Nogent-sur-Marne. His educational “methods” reject the use of notebooks and instead include walks with students in the Bois de Vincennes and games of mimicry. In 1939 Deligny accepts another post, this time at the Armentières asylum (renamed the Psychiatric Hospital two years earlier), one of the most important institutions of mental health in France. He marries Josette Salieil and moves to Armentières.