Service chain models
Development of children and young people’s mental health service chain
Helsinki will improve the mental health services for children and young people through so-called phenomenon-based service chain development. The work is carried out as part of the Future Health and Social Services Centres programme. The Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division, Education Division as well as Culture and Leisure Division are involved in the development process. The aim of the mental health service chain programme for children and young people is to ensure that children and young people in Helsinki receive high-quality mental health services that meet their needs in a timely, smooth and coordinated manner.
The service chain development began in 2019 and will continue as part of the Future Health and Social Services Centres programme of the health and social services reform in 2020–2023. The service chain promotes access to services at all stages of the need for support. The development work will take into account the development of services from low-threshold preventive services and operating models to corrective interventions. The developers of the mental health service chain for children and young people in the Future Health and Social Services Centres programme will support the change by developing various low-threshold preventive services and operating models as well as by promoting access to help and the use of self-care services.
The development of the mental health service chain for children and young people aims to
- improve equal access as well as the timeliness and continuity of services
- shift the focus of operations from heavy services to preventive and proactive work
- improve the quality and effectiveness of services
- ensure multidisciplinary and coordinated services
- curb cost increases
- ensure services in Swedish and take into account the availability of services in other languages.
The measures of the mental health service chain for children and young people aim to
- take into account well-being and health promotion as well as the prevention of marginalisation in all activities and services
- ensure the basic level health and social services needed by clients in a smooth and timely manner while safeguarding the continuity of the services
- strengthen Helsinki’s own basic-level mental health and substance abuse services provided at a low-threshold for children and young people
- ensure outreach-based intensive support and treatment in specialised healthcare for the 10–18-year-old joint clients of Child Welfare as well as child and adolescent psychiatry who have slipped through the net
- strengthen the role of schools and educational institutions in identifying the mental health needs of children and young people and in low-threshold care
- adopt the HYVÄ joint model for recognising and addressing concerns (formerly Common Approach, CA, model) among the professionals working with children and young people increase the use of evidence- and research-based interventions in basic and specialised services
- create a joint model for describing the stepped service chain for professionals
- develop the neuropsychiatric service path.
Key target groups in the service chain development process
- Children, young people and their families living in Helsinki
- Professionals working with the children, young people and their families
Main operators of the project
- Health and Social Services
– Family and Social Services
– Health and Substance Abuse Services - Education
– Early childhood education and pre-primary education
– Basic education
– General upper secondary education, vocational education and training
– Swedish-language services - Culture and Leisure
– Youth Services - HUS
– Child psychiatry
– Adolescent psychiatry
If you are interested in learning more about the development of the mental health service chain for children and young people, please contact:
Jarmo Lonkola
Project Manager, mental health service chain for children and young people
Tel. +358 40 625 6491
jarmo.lonkola@hel.fi