Health and wellbeing

Learning goals

People move to Finland from many different countries. In some countries, there may be different notions about health, illness or disability, and about how one can take care of one’s own health and wellbeing. There may be things that need to be learned about the Finnish healthcare system. Which wellbeing and health services can be used in Finland? Why are physical health, mental health and sexual health all central to a person’s wellbeing?

After completing this section, the participant of the civic orientation will:

• Know different ways to take care of their own health and wellbeing in Finland
• Understand the significance of sexual rights for a balanced life
• Know about dating culture and relationships in Finland
• Recognise central health services in Finland and know how to use them
• Know where to find help for issues with health or illness
• Understand how disability rights are viewed in Finland and what services are available for disabled people
• Know basic information about the central services and health matters of the elderly.
   

Case study

Abbas came to Finland as an asylum seeker. He had been living in Finland for five years when his wife and two children arrived in the country through family reunification. One of the children has a severe developmental disability, and in the beginning, Abbas and his wife had a lot to do in applying for support and services for the child in Finland. 

Now Abbas and his wife are in a difficult situation, because his wife would like to study  first Swedish and then for a profession. Abbas, on the other hand, would like to continue working, although he is currently unemployed. His previous fixed-term job ended, and he has not yet found a new one. However, the daily care of their disabled child takes up a lot of time. Abbas’s wife is on the waiting list for an integration course, where she is supposed to improve her Swedish skills. Abbas originally chose to attend integration courses in Swedish because he moved to a Swedish-speaking area in Finland. The family enjoys living in the area. 

Before starting the integration training, the wife is offered a place in a civic orientation course (yhteiskuntaorientaatio). The family agrees that the wife will first attend the four-week civic orientation course, and then they will revisit the arrangements for the child’s care. During a lesson, the instructor explains that in Finland, a family member can become the informal caregiver (omaishoitaja) of a sick or disabled child and receive financial support for it (omaishoidon tuki). This had been mentioned to the family earlier by social services, but at the time, Abbas and his wife did not fully understand what caregiving involved, and they hadn’t had the time to look into it further.

The family reconsiders the matter. Abbas is concerned because the financial support provided for informal care is small. Eventually, Abbas decides that he could consider becoming an informal caregiver, at least for a while. Now he is unemployed, and he hasn’t been able to be present in his children’s lives for many years—first while waiting for his asylum decision, and then for the family reunification process. Now he wants to spend more time with them, and in the meantime, it’s his wife’s turn to integrate and study. The family contacts social services and begins to arrange the matter.