Helmimetsän

Helmimetsän Oy runs Helmimetsän Tupa, a four-place residential unit for children aged 13–17 with a focus on substance abuse and addiction work. Placements are made under the Finnish Child Welfare Act, either as compulsory care, urgent placement or placement based on open-care support measures. Care is provided around the clock, with a staffing ratio of 2.0. Methods include nature and adventure education, animal-assisted activities and neuropsychiatric coaching, and a consultative addiction physician from Terveystalo supports the staff.

The unit's clients are children placed in its care and their families, with family work carried out at the unit, in the child's home or remotely, regardless of the family's municipality. Work with the child's social worker, school and other specialists is central to the care plan. The unit is presented as an open-ended, child-led rehabilitation process rather than medical addiction treatment; substitution treatment is given only on a specific physician's order.

The company was founded in 2024 and is based in Orivesi, where school-age children attend the Orivesi comprehensive school. Weekly outdoor trips take place in the surrounding nature, and longer trips to Lapland, including Levi and Ylläs, are planned with partners.

Product: Four-place residential child care unit (Tupa) for 13–17-year-olds, with substance abuse work, neuropsychiatric coaching and family work.