THOUGHTS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING INTENSIVE COURSE

The first key note lecture was poverty in welfare state by Sakari Kainulainen. It woke me up to think about the supporting of mental health and well-being among the homeless and underprivileged groups. We have structural things that are causing a poverty and sooner than you know, there's a possibility to go from mainstream to marginal. The thing is that we need to shake those peoples a littlebit to wake up for their own situation, not just give them something to stop the freefall. I actually got very much knowledge of this lecture about Finland's current situation and how it's showed on different areas. The main point is that we have to pay attention to that group of peoples, who are living on social, because they have learned to be helpless.

The thing that I liked most about this weekend was that we had honor to listen Päivi Rissanen and her story. It reminded me, how important it is, to treat others as you wish that you would have been dealed with. Patient's service map in Finland can be quite large and it is very important that the patient feels that there is really somebody who cares for him/her. You might be his/hers only hope.

I think that the most interesting part of this weekend was the study tour in Global clinic. It's producing health services for paperless immigrants. It gave me very much new knowledge, and the work that they do, is amazing. I wasn't aware that things here in Finland are in so bad condition. The thing is that limiting access to health care does not save money. But if we treat people when they need necessary healthcare and not only when they need emergency healthcare, we could save resources and money in a long term. To get more information about their work, go to www.globalclinic.fi

This weekend was a good experience also because there were students from our group but also from Norway and Sweden. It was nice to have a 'coffee table conversations' about the differences and similarities in education systems and work as a nurse, in our respective countries.

Who am I?

Mirikle Nousiainen, Student in Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Master degree programme in health promotion, Finland.