Free coffee helped Nea Hyvärinen break a year of isolation
Wednesday 4th November 2026 on 08:15 in
Finland
Free coffee brought Nea Hyvärinen out of her home after almost a year of isolation, Yle reports. The 25-year-old from Jyväskylä says she began attending a local outreach youth work group in early 2025 after a friend raised concerns about her.
Hyvärinen had spent most of the previous year alone at home. After graduating in 2023 with qualifications in cooking and hospitality management, she struggled to find work. She says depression, anxiety, panic disorder and other mental health problems made daily life difficult.
“I wasn’t doing anything with my life, and I didn’t want to do anything,” she says. At her lowest point, she spent up to 16 hours a day playing video games or online, ordered food to her home and slept through the day.
A social worker suggested she visit Akku, an outreach youth work group. The offer of free coffee, and sometimes food, gave her a reason to go. What began as visits twice a week soon became a routine, and she started taking part in more activities and meeting other people.
According to Statistics Finland, 255,000 people aged 18 to 29 were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2024, more than a third of that age group. The figure was 36,000 higher than the previous year. The latest figures were not yet available.
Jyväskylä’s outreach youth work team received nearly 900 contacts from young people last year, and almost 600 became clients. Across Finland, outreach services received more than 30,000 concern reports in 2025. They were unable to reach 3,751 young people, while more than 20,000 began longer-term support.
Team leader Sini Moberg said close cooperation with educational institutions helps the Jyväskylä team reach young people. Staff also make repeated efforts over three months, contacting them by phone or message, then by letter and, as a last resort, through a home visit.
Youth unemployment in Finland is high: 21.8 per cent of 15-to-24-year-olds were unemployed last year, the largest increase among age groups. Miikka Piiroinen, an expert at Into, an organisation representing outreach youth work and workshop services, says many young people are in such poor condition that they cannot seek work or help on their own. The organisation has criticised cuts to support services, while the government says it is addressing youth unemployment through local pilot schemes.