Mental health and wellbeing - focus on homeless and underprivileged populations

The seminar in different ways gathered together the things of underprivileged groups of people and began with a way fitting the theme, with a musical perfomance by the band which consist of people having  substitution treatment. I was especially impressed by Päivi Rissanen, and her doctoral thesis "A Hopeless Case? An Autoethnography of Getting Mentally Ill and Rehabilitation of It" on her own illness, treatment and recovery. The study also uncovered problems with the Finnish healthcare system. She told that she had met 300 nurses and 40 doctors during those seven years and 40 hospital periods, that was the most difficult time of her illness. Although she was regarded as chronically ill, she recovered and therefore was not a hopeless case. She told that the process of healing had begun with a single question asked at the right time by her nurse: "Päivi, do you really want to live rest of your life in a hospital?".

For me the best part of this seminar was study tour to supported housing unit for minor asylum seekers. Unit is for youngsters aged between 16-17 and there asuu 40 boys at a moment. Basic function in this unit is to offer safe living conditions for asylum for the duration of the process. Only two of these youngsters who came to Finland last autumn have already got residence permits. After that Ely Centre can relocate them also to some other municipality. This raises the question, will all those  relationships made here be cut off with the change of municipality. Luckily, almost all these youngsters have some kind of contact with some relative. In the operation of the unit there are also ca. hundred volunteers that i.e. guide different activies such as homework tutoring or cooking class. The large amount of volunteers suprised me positively. I'm interested in things related to immigration becuse I also act myself as a representative for an unaccompanied minor asylum seeker from Afghanistan.

One of the themes was Undocumented migration and life without rights in welfare state. We in a group with other students from the Nordic countries thought about i.e. what happens to those who receive negative decisions to their asylum application. Do those returned to their home country stay or will they leave again to seek their future elsewhere? All the things highlighted in the seminar where such, that they evoked questions for myself to ponder on afterwards.

Who am I?

Sanna Hakaheimo, Bachelor of social services and now completing Master degree studies in promotion of the health and wellbeing of people in danger of marginalisation.