Campaign: Sauna Therapy

Sauna Therapy – Mielten vuoro (´Time for mind´)

In public conversation one group with a wide range of mental health problems has consistently stayed in the shadows: men, especially the older generation. Mostly because they don’t talk about them.

The hard fact is that only one man in ten seeks help with his mental health problems and men use health services half as much as women. (FinSote 2020)

If the men won’t seek therapy, then therapy must seek them out.

On the Mental Health Week of 2021 three legendary public saunas in Finland – Harjun Sauna, Rajaportti’s sauna and Forum Sauna – allied with Mehiläinen, a health care provider, to offer group therapy for men in the warmth of the steam for three days.

From this, a new form of therapy, tailor made for the men’s mindscape was born: Sauna therapy. The functional and sincere, concrete action that lowered the bar for men to take part in therapy and seek help.

One hundred men bravely sat on the sauna benches, and more were willing to participate. That is why Sauna therapy will continue and the aim is that one day it could become an official form of treatment in Finland.