Subject : Managing Housing First Teams

Juha has been working for 10 years in the field of homelessness. He started as a frontline support worker in 2010 for the Finnish Youth housing association services (NALPA) before becoming Housing First service manager and then CEO of NALPA. He joined Y-Säätiö in 2018 as coordinator for the National Housing First Development Network and became the Lead Coordinator in 2020 and is currently head of international affairs at Y-Säätiö. As part of his role at the Network, Juha organises training courses at national level, and is working on developing the Housing First model together with dozens of NGO’s and cities.

Muriel is a Psychologist with 10 years of experience in Harm Reduction. She has been a Housing First Manager since 2013 - including ACT + ICM team management - and has rehoused more than 50 clients to date. As a Housing First trainer, Muriel shares her expertise in Harm Reduction, Recovery, Peer work, Crises management, and Violence.

Rémi has 20 years of experience working in the social sector, with experience in a wide range of social and homeless services, including:

• Social Worker since 2000
• Social Housing 2000
• First Line social services 2002-2005
• Family Planning 2005-2016
• Therapeutical community 2013-2018
• Social school teacher 2016-2018
• Health services for drug addictions 2018- now
• Housing First worker 2018-now
• Housing First Trainer: 2019- now

Pilvi started working on the homelessness field in Scotland in 2005 as an assertive outreach worker. After returning to Finland, Pilvi went to work with Helsinki Deaconess Institute in one of their newly opened Housing First units, providing supported living for long-term homeless people. She then had the opportunity to be part of establishing a new Housing First community-based supported housing unit for long- term homeless people. There she ensures that workers were familiar with Housing First principles and that the support work they did was in line with the Housing First principles. Pilvi is currently working as a project coordinator for the NEA project, aiming to stop women’s homelessness with a women-specific methods, and with eight multidisciplinary sub-projects.

David has over 15 years of work with drug addicts, including as an outreach worker, frontline worker, community therapist, and parental counsellor. He also has 3 years experience working in a halfway house, and is now participating in change of Czech social system to reduce and end homelessness in the Czech Republic. In addition to his training in Housing First, David is also a trainer of motivational interviewing, Buddhist meditation, psychodrama and focusing.