If Kunnontiim didn't exist, 19-year-old Juho from Gotholola would probably lie at home for days and his mother would worry herself to death about the young man's future. In the evening, Juho would perhaps go to lap training, but after that he would stay up late, because in the morning he wouldn't have to go anywhere.
But in Hollola there is a Repair Team. Fortunately.
Juho's story is not particularly unusual. He is one of those young people who haven't had much fun at school, but he still has the will to build a good life for himself. That plan includes working in a field that interests you.
Because construction work has always interested me, Juho applied for vocational training in the construction industry after primary school and got a place to study.
- I studied for two years, but I had motivation problems at school. The teaching was too much theory and watching from the sidelines, when I would have liked to be able to do real work myself. The fitness team offers exactly those, says Juho.
Juho came to Kunnontiim for the first time in June 2021 for a work trial. Self-coach Saila Pirinen was a recommendation for Juho's fitness team under the army.
The role of a personal coach is especially important for young people. You have to be pretty good at marketing so that young people realize how good opportunities the municipality can offer. It is not always necessary to seek employment through a company.
According to his own words, at this stage, Juho was still a bit on the laughing line and didn't expect much from Kunnontiim. When Juho then met his work coach Timo, it quickly started to feel like there could be a lot of sense in the matter.
In August, the work trial was replaced by a wage subsidy, and Juho was allowed to continue working in jobs that interested him until the end of the year.
In the Kunnontiimi, Juho has been able to catch up on real work from the beginning. For example, at Tiilijärventie 7, he was able to do painting work on an apartment building and installation of acoustic panels. It was a water damage renovation, where even the roofs were torn open, so the project taught many different work phases on a large renovation site.
Fitness team - a low threshold towards working life
Behind the rehabilitation team is a working group organized by the employment services of the municipality of Hollola, whose purpose is to promote the employment of the municipality's residents by offering versatile work trial and wage support positions as well as rehabilitative work activities. In the fitness team, individual further paths are also planned and, if necessary, surveys of work and functional ability are carried out.
Juho said goodbye to Kunnontiim at the end of 2021, because in January the young man was invited to change Kunnontiim's orange attention clothes to a grayer style of clothing. But the same happened with the army as with going to school: it wasn't Juho's thing. Conscript service in Parola was interrupted.
Then something happened that job coach Timo Tanskanen is particularly proud of.
- Juho contacted us himself and asked if it would be possible for him to get back to Kunnontiim. We didn't have a solution right away, but of course we set out to build one. Since Juho is clearly interested in the construction industry despite his interrupted studies, apprenticeship was the most suitable way for him to come back to Kunnontiim.
Together with Juho's personal trainer, Timo did a lot of work to arrange an apprenticeship for Juho in cooperation with the Salpaus Training Center and the municipality. Since there was no ready-made template, Timon had to find out exactly which parts of his studies Juho could complete in Kunnontiimi.
At the moment, Juho has a year-long stint in the Kunnontiim. One day a week, he goes to school in Salpaus and gives all his evidence related to the apprenticeship contract at real work sites.
The basic degree in construction will be completed in this way, which suits Juho's life perfectly.
The diversity of the team is a wealth - and a small challenge
Timo Tanskanen, who guides Juho, works in Kunnontiim as one of the work coaches. In addition to four job coaches, nine self-coaches work in the employment services of the municipality of Hollola as part of the municipal experiment in the Lahti region.
The task of self-coaches is to individually support the unemployed job seeker. Of course, the goal is always employment. Different customer groups include adults on labor market support or basic daily allowance, people under 30, and unemployed people who speak a foreign language.
The municipality of Hollola has invested significantly in the recruitment of self-coaches. Some of them have moved from the state to the municipality. Employment services also have a responsibility coach and an employment secretary in addition to the employment officer.
The backgrounds of the team members are very different. Some come to Kunnontiim for a short work trial, like Juhok first, some are already older compulsory employees, some are doing an apprenticeship.
- Currently, Kunnontiim has around 20 team members from very different backgrounds, from under twenty to over 60 years old. There is a 17-year-old girl who has just started school training and a seasoned plumber with a background of long-term unemployment and really everything in between, says Tanskanen.
In Tanskanen's opinion, this is a wealth, because within the team there is a fair amount of life wisdom to share, and thus the different generations notice that cooperation in the team works despite age differences and different backgrounds.
Different backgrounds and life situations inevitably also bring challenges. For example, the rhythm of life required by work is still difficult for some. It was the same for Juho in the beginning, before everyday life taught that it is necessary to go to bed early in order to be able to get up for work in the morning.
- Some work shorter working days in the team, but my working days are always 7.30:15.30 a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. It's only good because it's the length of the working day on most construction sites, so it's good to get used to it already at this stage, says Juho.
Tanskanen listens contentedly from the side and praises Juho that he has mastered all the practices of working life and learns new things quickly. So the job coach doesn't doubt for a moment that the construction industry will get an excellent employee from Juho.
Juho himself currently hopes to find employment in his home municipality of Hollola in the future, but he certainly knows that in the construction industry it is good to be ready to change the scenery as well.
Timo Tanskanen or one of the instructors is always present at the work sites, because the real work situation is the best opportunity to learn and teach.Hollola invests in employment services
Work coach Timo Tanskanen's situation is worse at the moment, as it is known that he will be on a long sick leave due to an upcoming hip operation. With these prospects, however, he will have to wait until October for surgery.
The other hip has already been operated on before, so Tanskanen knows exactly what lies ahead.
In fact, it was physical ailments that forced Tanskanen to look for a new place and role in working life. Before Kunnontiim, he did versatile construction work for a long time even around the world: for example in Germany, the Caribbean and the western shores of the Caspian Sea. A couple of years ago, my hip started showing symptoms so strongly that especially heavy traveling work was no longer an issue.
This year Tanskanen has had an interesting double role in the Fitness team. The man both supervises the apprentice and completes the apprenticeship himself, in a fixed-term employment relationship with the municipality of Hollola.
In January, Tanskanen started the Special Vocational Degree in Rehabilitation, Support and Guidance Services as an apprenticeship. Now, due to the sick leave, there will be a break in studies, but hopefully the work will continue next year at the latest, when the hip is fixed.
- So my story is also a good example of Kunnontiim's many possibilities. As a person from Gothol, I take my hat off to the municipal decision-makers for all of this. Hollola invests significantly in individual employment services. I am not willing to retire on sick leave. I hope that there are still many years of work ahead.
Read more about the Fitness Team: ghowtlea.fi/kunnontiimi.
text: Terhi Kangas
photos: Petri Koivisto
Published on 14.6.2022 April XNUMX
