What kind of resilience do non-Finnish speaking mothers in Finland need? A new concept, the MiB HUB for parents was launched in spring 2024 to figure this out. Participants with small children got to meet continuously, network and create their balance for career and family. The results showed that their experienced stress was reduced as a result.
According to the MiB HUB’s evaluation in spring 2024, the program supported in being better able to identify available resources, making better use of them, and feeling more in control – thus reducing stress and the risk for burnout, especially parental burnout that according to research is its own phenomenon.
The MiB HUB is a great example of the impact that the MiB International project has been able to have on the wellbeing and growth of international parents living in Finland.
“The importance of attending a group where you can feel that you are not alone as a parent is never to be underestimated. The value of such networks provided by MiB is huge”, says Kati Ojeda, a Mental health professional and external speaker in the program.
The supportive sessions that include peer-support for international mothers reduce the feeling of being alone or having to do everything on one’s own. It is important to find networks where you can listen to another person and think: “Exactly!”. It gives perspective and expands awareness, and also increases one’s social safety.
Support networks are vital for parents’ resilience
Every parent’s situation is unique, just as all individuals and all families are unique. However, the power of seeing, hearing, and feeling that there are persons living and thinking in similar ways is substantial. This is essential when finding one’s own way in combining family and work. Moving to a new city or to a new country brings a new level to the challenge.
“This is where MiB International project has made a difference for many international parents in Finland. By providing solution-oriented opportunities to network around themes of career, life-balance, and development in all its forms. These themes strengthen both identity, self-confidence, and wellbeing”, Anne Liljestrand concludes as the facilitator of the MiB HUB.
The above mentioned themes also had an essential role in the HUB. To increase wellbeing and to prevent parental burnout, the MiB HUB included 6 online meetings around topics on own identity, awareness of strengths, own impact, burnout prevention, recovery methods, and support networks. The goals were set to:
Strengthen the resources of international mothers with small children in Finland.
Enhance the social safety of international families in Finland by strengthening resilience, participation, and overall life-balance.
Create fora for supportive, solution-oriented, and informative discussions, peer support and coach and facilitator support, networking to prevent parental burnout of mothers with small children and to enhance wellbeing through information, stronger support networks, and tools.
“We carried out the HUB during spring 2024 and its program was based on the Finnish MiB Voimavarahautomo, a pilot project conducted in autumn 2023. A ready concept helped us to modify it to the non-Finnish speaking mothers’ needs very easily. This played a crucial part in the results.”
The MiB HUB included online group sessions to ensure low-threshold participation regardless of how one’s day might look like. Participants also had several digital tools for self-reflection and practical life-planning at their disposal. Some tools were also discovered during the group sessions.
The MiB HUB is a great example of being involved in a network that supports its members through events with impact and insights and through activities that offer support for life-balance. This is exactly what MiB is about.
Want to expand your networks with us? Read more about MiB and become a member.
This blog was co-written by MiB’s HUB facilitator Anne Liljestrand and MiB International project specialist Tuovi Bresnahan.
Anne is an internationally certified coach and a facilitator, a mother of two children, an entrepreneur, a MiB active, and a runner. According to Anne, no matter how hectic life may have been, she has always found time to eat – and to run.
