Funding threat puts family addiction support at risk

Liina, an outpatient service supporting mothers and families affected by substance abuse in Central Ostrobothnia, faces an uncertain future, Yle reports. Its funding is secured only until the end of the year, and decisions on grants from STEA, Finland’s funding body for social and health organisations, are expected in early December.

The service is run by the Kokkola Association for Mothers and Children’s Homes and Shelters. It also needs support from the regional wellbeing services authority to continue operating.

“The pressure is greater than it has been in more than 20 years,” said Marita Loukiainen, the organisation’s executive director. “Funding has been uncertain every year, but we have never been under this much pressure.”

The government is cutting grants to social and health sector organisations to less than half their previous level between 2024 and 2027. Many organisations are planning temporary layoffs or redundancies.

Last year, association-run residential homes specialising in the rehabilitation of mothers who use substances closed in Kokkola and Oulu. Similar homes are still operating in Turku and Kuopio. Outpatient services similar to Liina are available in Kuopio, Turku, Lahti, Kouvola and Helsinki.

Julia Alatalo, 28, says Liina has supported her and her family for several years. She describes herself as a recovering addict and says she no longer uses substances.

Alatalo says the service has helped her process trauma, build relationships with her children and find peer support. She says the community provided something she had never had before.

“It is an important part of it: a person gets content for everyday life, and substances are no longer constantly on their mind,” said Susanna Lindholm, the unit’s supervisor.

Liina has organised community evenings, outings, baking sessions and themed groups. Alatalo has also had meetings with a personal counsellor to discuss her life, as well as help with her relationship.

She says the service has helped her eldest child, who had already experienced a great deal at a young age, and supported her with her younger child. The service has even found someone to take the child for a blood test when Alatalo could not bear to see the child being injected.

Alatalo also attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and the Päihdekeskus Port substance abuse centre. She says openness can take a person a long way.

Nearly half of new clients are pregnant

So far this year, 44 per cent of Liina’s clients were pregnant when they arrived. The service works with a clinic treating pregnant people with substance abuse problems, maternity clinics and child health clinics.

It is important that the association for mothers and children’s homes and shelters also receives information about substance abuse problems in families, Lindholm said.

“It may be that the client relationship with us does not begin at that stage, but we already tell the family that this kind of help is available,” she said.

Liina no longer monitors abstinence or conducts substance screening. Those tasks are handled elsewhere.

Alcohol use has unexpectedly become more prominent among Liina’s clients this year. Almost half of those arriving at the service have had problems with alcohol use, while a quarter use alcohol alongside drugs.

Alatalo says she did not use any substances during her pregnancies. That was where she drew the line.

Her second child’s birth became a turning point

Alatalo began using substances in sixth grade. Since then, she says, her life has included both good and difficult periods.

She says her substance use was still severe when her first child was born. She was a young mother without a profession, and her finances were in disorder.

Alatalo says she developed depression and found it difficult to form a relationship with her newborn. She began using substances again when the baby was three months old.

“Perhaps my own childhood came to the surface. I believe that was the biggest factor in why I became so unwell,” she said.

At times, she went for months without alcohol or other substances. She worked and graduated, but says substances remained on her mind and controlled her daily life.

“I was at home, the mother of a small child and a partner. But when you closed the door, everything was completely different and I was a completely different person. I always said I was living a double life.”

She sees the birth of her younger child as the turning point.

“I had this realisation that you cannot achieve anything in life unless you truly make a complete turnaround.”

During her second pregnancy, Alatalo worked with Liina to prevent another collapse.