For me and my own learning I would say that the most valuable key note lecture was Päivi Rissanen's lecture. It was very touching to hear about her experiences and at the same time very eye opening to learn how the service system in Finland really works. That was clearly shown in the service map she had made of her own journey in the system. It's hard to imagine that someone may have to meet over 300 different professionals during their struggle with a mental illness. Same time it's quite paralyzing to hear that the professionals can classify you as a hopeless case. Rising from a hopeless case to be a PhD is really amazing! Päivi's lecture gave also a good point of view for us as professionals in what's important when you're working with mental health. Thank you Päivi, for sharing your story.
Study tour to Supported Housing Unit for Minor Asylum Seekers was worth of a visit. It was nice to hear about the work they do with the minor asylum seekers and how they are integrating the youth into the Finnish system. It would have been nice to get to see the housing and how the youth live but unfortunately that wasn't possible because of health reasons.
Sunday's group work sessions were a great way to get to know the international students. Discussions gave a possibility to do some comparing between the different countries and their ways of working with asylum seekers. In our group discussions it was pretty clear that Finland and Denmark were the least "open" countries to take in the asylum seekers.
The main points learned from this weekend were: HOPE, EMPOWERMENT, UNIQUENESS.
"Jokaiselle ihmisarvoinen huominen" (=Everyone deserves a decent tomorrow)
Who am I?
Johanna Magnusson, 34 years, Masters degree student in Diaconia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki.
No comments:
Post a Comment