Work in pairs reaches young people in need of support − “Without this, many would be completely excluded from services”

Social workers Iida Erickson and Emma Kontkanen and mental health and substance abuse nurse Tanja Parviainen are currently working closely together to help young people in Helsinki. They serve young adults who have reduced functional capacity due to mental health, substance abuse or neuropsychiatric challenges, for example.

−The strength of working in pairs is that the service can be taken to the young person’s home. For some young people, the threshold to leave the home is so high that they would not be able to use the services otherwise, says Iida.

Previously, cooperation between social and healthcare providers mainly meant consultation. Now, working more closely together has brought new opportunities for many young people.  

−Without our cooperation with a mental health and substance abuse nurse, many young people would be completely excluded from healthcare services, Iida and Emma explain.

Letting the young person set the pace 

Working in pairs serves young adults aged 18-29 in Helsinki. Young people usually become clients of the service through social services, for example, after a notification of concerns. 

Communication with the young person begins by mapping out their situation and how professionals could help them. Social workers only ask the nurse to cooperate with the consent of the young person.

− The client may have been disappointed with healthcare services in the past, and it may not be easy to talk about their own problems at first. There can also feel ashamed of their own situation. That’s why it’s important to proceed gradually and only move on to difficult topics after discussing other things first, says Tanja. 

The professionals provide the service in the person's home, and its aim is to ensure that young people in need of special support receive the support they need.

Sometimes, a young person might not have the energy or willingness to continue a process that has already been started, and work can be interrupted for a long time. This requires perseverance, patience and flexibility from employees. It is essential to move at the young person's pace and to make them understand that they can always return to the services. 

Emma, Iida and Tanja emphasise that trust is the foundation of everything. Building it takes time, but it enables effective results.

− It feels particularly meaningful to me when a client turns to me in a time of crisis. This is a sign that I have succeeded in establishing a relationship of trust with the young person, says Tanja.

−These young people rarely say 'thank you' directly. The best feedback is when they get back in touch with us themselves, says Emma.

The cooperation benefits everyone 

Emma and Iida see many advantages in collaborating with a mental health and substance abuse nurse in everyday social care work.  

− Unlike us social workers, the mental health and substance abuse nurse can view the client’s health data, with the client’s permission. This is important because it is often difficult for our clients to put their own health issues into words. Once we have a comprehensive overview of the young person’s situation, we can think about what kind of support the young person would benefit most from, says Emma. 

Cooperation with a nurse offers a direct connection to health care and helps to move the client’s matters forward. Another benefit is that when the young person receives the service at home from a familiar employee, it lowers the risk of, for example, not showing up at a healthcare appointment in the case of a young person who struggles to commit to agreed appointments.

It feels particularly meaningful to me when a client turns to me in a time of crisis. This is a sign that I have succeeded in establishing a relationship of trust with the young person.

Although there is room for further development in terms of deepening the cooperation and the flow of information, Emma, Iida and Tanja already feel that the work in pairs is very successful. They see that similar concepts where services are provided at homes could also be used more widely in other age groups and services. 

−Multidisciplinarity and flexibility would benefit all social and health care services, they conclude. 

The cooperation between the youth social welfare services and student health care was developed in 2023–2025 in the Sustainable Growth project, which received funding from the European Union’s one-off recovery instrument (Next Generation EU). By the end of 2025, the pilot cooperation had been extended to cover the entire Helsinki area. From the beginning of 2026, it has continued as part of the city’s normal services.