Do you have personal experience of mental health challenges, addiction, or other life difficulties—and of the factors that support recovery? Are you interested in becoming an Expert by Experience, and are you able to commit to a group-based training process?
It is important that you are willing to share your experiences of illness and recovery, but also that your own recovery is far enough along that you have gained some distance from past adversities (such as crises or trauma) and are not currently going through an acute crisis. It is also an advantage if you have the desire to help others or to support fellow recoverees as a kind of “path-clearer.” In addition, it helps if you are cooperative and open to personal growth. The ability to reflect on yourself is a definite plus.
The purpose of the Niemikoti Foundation’s Expert-by-Experience training is to support your recovery while also providing you with the skills to work as an Expert by Experience. The basic training consists of approximately 54 hours and takes place over nine months. From January to May, there are six training days (9:00–15:00) held in person in Helsinki, and in October a three-day camp at Niemikoti Foundation’s recreational and training center Kesäharju in Vuolenkoski, Iitti.
The training is not aimed at completing a degree or part of a degree. Participation is entirely free of charge for participants.
The training content covers, among other things:
- Introduction to job coaching and pathways into working life
- What it means to be an Expert by Experience
- Working as a member of a group
- What participation means to me
- The perspective of recovery orientation
- Structuring your own story, preparing to share it, and adapting it for different situations
- A writing workshop
- The importance of professional supervision and networking
- Identifying your own skills and strengths
The Expert-by-Experience training is currently conducted mainly in Finnish, so participants are required to have a good command of the Finnish language.
