MIITTI

MIITTI is a project under the umbrella of Pro Lapinlahti mielenterveysseura ry, based in the historical former mental hospital in the Lapinlahti area of Helsinki. MIITTI was launched in September 2017 with funding provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland.

We are a project by the people, from the people and for the people. The name MIITTI is an acronym formed from the following Finnish words: monikulttuurisuus “multiculturality”, ihmisyys “humaneness”, ilo “joy”, toiminnallisuus “functionality”, turvallisuus “safety” and innovaatio “innovation”.

We deal with the overall aspects of inclusion and integration – inclusion for us means creating an environment where individuals and groups feel comfortable with both locals and non-locals. We arrange a variety of events and workshops for people from all backgrounds in the Helsinki Metropolitan area, to reduce loneliness and promote new social connections while increasing the well-being and reducing cross-cultural prejudices and stigmas.

We also provide possibilities for on-the-job learning and practical training for students from different educational institutions.

Our values:

We work without labels, boxes or categories. We strive to inspire through our human commonness, spectrum of talents, softness, warmth, love and happiness.

We love music, dance, food, discussions, languages, art, interactions, sports, cultures, different opinions, smiles, hopes, dreams, humans, Lapinlahti and Finland.

We work to communicate and connect with each other in an easy and convenient way through any possible channel.

Free events

We believe that happiness should be free of charge and that’s why our events are free of charge.

In our events we smile, laugh, feel good, learn, meet new people and make new friends. We work towards equality, diversity and human commonness. We believe that human interaction is the key to breaking prejudices.

You can find our events on our Facebook page and events page.

Details of some of our events:

Run to Sauna: It is time to start running to the sauna again! We will meet outside the oldest sauna in Helsinki, Lähteen Sauna. The running portion of the event usually takes around 40 minutes, after which there is time to relax in the sauna. Everyone is welcome to join us!

Opi suomea suomeksi – Learn Finnish in Finnish: This is a weekly event in which participants learn and practice Finnish language in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. The focus is on conversational skills and everyday spoken language, using English as a support language. Every other week the event is open for everybody and the rest of weeks it is available for advanced Finnish speakers.

Learn Finnish and Arabic – Language Exchange: In this event we try to exchange languages by speaking with a native speaker. The main focus is exchanging Arabic and Finnish using the tandem method, in which participants teach each other. For that, we offer an open learning environment every Wednesday.

Let’s Tango: This is a weekly dance event where we practice Tango in a relaxed and low threshold group. There is no need to have any previous experience in tango or any other dance because we approach the basics in a playful way.

Open Kitchen: Our kitchen wizard, Namrata, will teach us how cook wonderful vegetarian Indian meals. The best way to learn is by doing, so all food preparation and cooking is done together, and at the end we’ll get to enjoy a nice meal together. Come as you are, no previous experience required.

Meditative Hatha Yoga – Meditative Hatha Yoga Prana Vidya: Every Thursday evening we experience hatha yoga with soft postures, ideal for people of all ages and most conditions. We learn how to relax and work on our bodies in a safe way by promoting better sleep and mood as well as higher relaxation levels.

Snacka på svenska: In this discussion group people can come and have the chance to practice speaking Swedish every Monday evening.

Guided Meditations: Every Friday we get together to discuss and meditate on a specific topic proposed by the group. We want to give everyone the chance to share their views and do a few meditation sessions, within a limited sized group.

Picture gallery

Information desk:

The location of Venetsia-talo in Lapinlahti

You can come visit our information desk on the first floor of the Venetsia-talo in Lapinlahti to receive information about services available and our upcoming events.

We are open from Wednesdays to Fridays from 12 noon to 5 pm.

Address: Fahlanderin puistokuja, 00180 Helsinki.