The National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme neglects to account for higher education students
STATEMENT
Government’s youth policy objectives and measures; basket 1: Path forward for every young person
The draft entirely omits several factors that are crucial to the lives and wellbeing of young people, such as subsistence, social security, housing, homelessness, working life and unemployment. Educational policy and segregation in education are also almost entirely missing from the draft. We cannot discuss the paths forward for young people without considering social and educational policy as a whole.
Unfortunately, sports, culture, hobbies and mental health services are not enough if a young person has no apartment or not enough income to cover their living costs. Poverty and worries over subsistence have a strong effect on the wellbeing and mental health of young people. The draft also overlooks socioeconomic and regional differences. The wellbeing of young people is polarised, and this should be reflected in the measures included in the programme.
A new objective should be added to the basket: every young person should be guaranteed the prerequisites for their wellbeing. Measures related to subsistence, social security, housing, homelessness, working life, unemployment and educational policy should be added to this objective. In the case of higher education students, particular attention must be paid to student aid.
The entry should also account for the monitoring and assessment of the wellbeing and mental health effects of the measures and of policies aimed at young people, such as changes to social security, as part of the National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme. Measures aimed at improving the equality of young people and the status of young people in vulnerable positions, under the threat of social exclusion and belonging to minorities must also be added to the programme in order to achieve the government’s own objectives. The socioeconomic differences among young people and families, multigenerational social exclusion and regional differences should also be taken into account in the programme.
HYY is concerned about the significant change of direction in the National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme, with higher education students completely overlooked in it. The programme should recognise the special status of higher education students and acknowledge matters such as the special role of the FSHS in supporting the wellbeing of higher education students. By taking care of students, we would help prevent unwanted delays in studies and students dropping out, human suffering on the individual level and negative effects to the individual as well as society. We thus propose the following addition: Work on wellbeing is also conducted in higher education institutions and in cooperation with the FSHS.
Government’s youth policy objectives and measures; basket 2: Diverse information and tools to support the mental wellbeing of young people
HYY considers the mention of the therapy guarantee in the National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme important. Investments in the wellbeing services counties to implement the therapy guarantee are a good start. However, it would be important to have all young people covered by the therapy guarantee: according to the Youth Act, this means everyone up to the age of 29. An additional annual investment of 35 million euros may also prove to be too small after it has been divided between the wellbeing services counties in the entire country. Services covered by the therapy guarantee should generally be free and financially accessible to ensure that the people with the greatest need for the services would have actual access to them.
We propose the following addition: The high-quality implementation of the therapy guarantee for children and young people is ensured. As per the Youth Act, the maximum age limit for the therapy guarantee is 29 years old, and the therapy guarantee is primarily realised in the immediate environment of young people, that is, in student welfare. The availability of the therapy guarantee (e.g. family therapy and young people not in education, employment or training) is also ensured in other primary healthcare services according to need and personal situation. The participation of young people in the implementation of the therapy guarantee and the development of the service is taken into account.
We also propose the following addition: The timely access of young people to high-quality mental health services is ensured. These services refer to low-threshold mental health services (e.g. chat services), primary mental health services in healthcare (e.g. student welfare and the therapy guarantee), specialised healthcare services (e.g. youth psychiatric treatment and ward care in hospitals) and rehabilitation (e.g. Kela’s rehabilitative psychotherapy).
Government’s youth policy objectives and measures; basket 3: The wellbeing of young people is supported by reinforcing participation, communality and safety
Bullying and discrimination negatively affect mental health and increase the risk of mental health problems. Measures related to the prevention of bullying and discrimination in the draft should be stronger and more detailed as well as take all educational levels into account, higher education included. Everyone has the right to physical and psychological safety. The prevention of bullying and discrimination as well as the promotion of equality must be conducted systematically in all environments and educational settings of young people, and sufficient resources must be reserved for this. The development of emotional, interaction and group skills, preventive practices and intervention methods are all needed. Furthermore, the draft programme makes no mention of racism, which has been proven to threaten the mental health of young people. A mention on the prevention of racism should be added to the draft.
Other comments on the programme
The draft for the National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme states that the government envisions a comprehensive and logical youth policy that improves the wellbeing of young people. Despite this, the draft programme excludes significant themes that are a part of the environment and living conditions of young people and that were included in the previous programmes, such as educational policy, social security, housing and working life. In addition to this, higher education students have not been acknowledged at all. The majority of higher education students are young people, which means that the wellbeing of young people cannot be improved without accounting for all youth groups. Higher education students should be taken into account in each section of the draft programme. The draft does not define any indicators for the objectives of the programme. This significantly impedes the monitoring of the programme and the assessment of its successful implementation.
Further information
Teemu Virtanen
Specialist in social policy
teemu.virtanen@hyy.fi
