Mental health and Wellbeing – focus on homeless and underprivileged population

We had a very interesting and tought-provoking NordDiakoni intensive Course weekend. Sakari Kainulainen gave us good introduction about poverty in Finland. It was interesting to see in wich municipalities has the most low economy based populaition. That made me think about the supporting system in Finland, do we have the same resoursers in small municipalities than in large citys? I don't think so. Small places and the municipalities in northen Finland don't have equal resoursers to handle poverty in their area. 

Päivi Rissanen made me think about our mental rehabilitation system, she showed how many people she had met and how many nursers and doctors had tryed to help her. Allthough it needed a one nurse who asked her the right question in a right time. That made me think that every meeting in your life can be meaningfull. 

Our group get to know Lehmusrinne wich offers housing first services to a heavy drug users. Place was a kind of a shock wake up call to see how helpless hevy users can be. It gave names and faces of the huge problem of homless people who has problems with intoxicants. It made me feel quite speachless just to think the life of people who has nothing. In same time i think of the people who nowdays has the knowledge of drug using and the other intoxicants, why they don't choose otherwise, why they are in those same situations than the old generation who didn't have the same knoweledge than we do. Is it the chaing of poverty and some kind of problems in menthal health? Who knows, it made me really think how we can make the difference in younger generation.

In the second day we get to know better the students of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. It was refressing to get known the practises of other countries and get other kind of perspective.

Who I am?

I am Katri Krigsholm 38 years old social councellor in city of Vantaa. I am studying masters program in Diakonia ammattikorkeakoulu.