What is PPF ry?
Psychological Practitioners Finland ry is a non-profit, volunteer-based organisation and was founded in 2021 by immigrants, for immigrants. It is primarily a professional association for psychologists and psychotherapists who completed their training outside of Finland and who work with the international and foreign-born community in Finland. The association supports foreign-trained professionals through meetings, professional development training, and by providing a skill and language based referral network. Psychological Practitioners Finland ry also aims to provide information to the public via this website about services provided by members and mental health in Finland in general. Our members are listed under language ability in our section “Find a Practitioner”.
A psychological practitioner describes a person who works professionally as a psychotherapist, therapist, counsellor, psychologist or clinical psychologist with clients, as individuals, families or couples. They would usually meet clients in a private setting either in person or online for a 45 to 60 minute session in which the client receives counselling or psychotherapy regarding their presenting issue. Typical issues are depression, stress, burnout, relationship difficulties, anxiety and motivation difficulties.
The association Psychological Practitioners Finland ry was originally formed as an informal group of international psychologists and psychotherapists in May 2018. As foreign trained professionals they were interested in meeting others in a similar situation, networking and talking to each other about professional practice issues. It soon became clear that the main focal points of discussion for the group were: 1. How to get registered as a psychologist or psychotherapist in Finland through VALVIRA (healthcare registration authority) and issues related to this. 2. Difficulties in working for different client groups (e.g. those without money) due to not qualifying as psychotherapists with VALVIRA. 3. Lack of support and information in Finland as professionals, partly due to registration issues, and a need for more information on how to work in Finland, professional training and professional support (referrals, information, peer supervision). 4. The clearly large need for foreign language professionals in Finland, and how we might best meet the needs of foreign born and foreign language speakers in Finland (i.e. how to help the clients find therapists who worked in a particular language). In 2021 the group decided to become a legal association, and on 28.10.2021, Psychological Practitioners Finland ry was formed.
The aims of the association are:
- a) To promote the interests of mental health professionals trained abroad. To support each other in getting registration with VALVIRA as a psychologist or psychotherapist in Finland through information sharing and practical support. The association also aims to monitor legislative developments in this area.
- b) The association develops and maintains the professional skills of its members. The association does this by providing ongoing professional training in English, by inviting trainers to run workshops or by organising speaking events.
- c) The association acts as a liaison between its members. The association provides information for members to share and platforms (i.e. a website) to aid in information exchange between members.
- d) The association promotes the networking of colleagues. The association provides a professional network for members. This professional network can function as a referral network (clinical function), an advocacy network (for discussion of important issues and providing a forum to discuss issues with regarding mental health in Finland) and a social network (to meet with like-minded professionals).
- e) The association promotes the general working conditions of members. The association provides information to members on working conditions for private practitioners in Finland in psychology and psychotherapy who work for the international and foreign-born community. This can include practical information sharing on business aspects of private practice work, information about pay and salary, registration and provision of an online search engine for members to advertise their business to the general public.