The Finnish Central Association for Mental Health provides support for the self help groups of people with mental health problems through
- training of the group leaders
- publications and study material
- research on the effects of self help groups
- information and articles about self help activities
What are self help groups like?
The self help groups are informal, objective-oriented discussion groups with 5 to 9 members. The groups are led by voluntaries who also have experienced mental health problems. They are trained to lead self help groups. Most groups are set up by the local member associations of Finnish Central Association for Mental Health.
Finnish Central Association for Mental Health has nationwide associations for people who struggle with depression and for those who hear voices. Down with depression organizes group activities for the depressed. Self help groups for people who hear voices have been set up by Finnish organization Polyfonie. For them there are also groups that are led by professionals in outpatient care and at psychiatric clinics.
Training and linking
Finnish Central Association for Mental Health provides training for people who want to set up self help groups. The solution-focused working methods have proved to be useful in this kind of training. Experienced group leaders and professional trainers are in charge of the group leader training.
In Finnish Central Association for Mental Health we have a trainers' co-operative Kapasita that consists of people who lecture about mental heath problems (how to cope, how to set up self help groups, what do patients expect from professionals). The trainers are all people with experience of mental health problems.
There are networks of people and organizations that are interested in self help groups. One task of Finnish Central Association for Mental Health is to link them and organize local and national seminars and make publicity on self help work.
What do the mental health workers say?
The public mental health administration has shown interest to self help work. Some doctors recommend self help groups and some are still suspicious.
A Proposal for a National Framework for Mental Health Services was launched by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in November 2001. In this document peer support and self help groups are mentioned as one good resource of community mental health work.
