Opiskelijoiden mielenterveysviikkoa vietetään valtakunnallisesti 9.–15.3.2026, tänä vuonna teemalla ”tulevaisuususko”. TaiYon hallituksen jäsen Tea Sirén kirjoittaa blogissa tulevaisuususkosta ja materiaalisista olosuhteista opiskelijoiden mielenterveysviikolla.
”“You must discontinue your studies and register as a full-time unemployed jobseeker.”This was the message that Kela sent to students applying for basic social assistance just over a week ago, at the beginning of March 2026.
The message encapsulates something fundamental about the attitudes many students feel are directed at them: work, discipline, punishment, personal growth, and productivity are prioritized over the intrinsic value of academic institutions, education, and a broad understanding of the world. From these chilling starting points, we enter the annual Student Mental Health Week organized by Nyyti ry from 9 to 15 March 2026. At times it seems that well‑intentioned mental health discourse becomes entangled with a neoliberal, work‑ and performance‑oriented logic of self‑improvement. This led me to reflect on what the mental health of an art student means to me in March 2026 – in a world marked by overlapping crises and ever‑deepening inequality.
On its website, Nyyti ry states: “Student Mental Health Week is a campaign aimed at highlighting students’ mental health situation and building a more mental‑health‑friendly study culture.” Nyyti ry also notes that it works to remove the structural issues in society that undermine students’ mental health. That is good, because there is certainly no shortage of such problems!
I recognize that students’ well‑being — and, in line with this year’s theme, their confidence in the future — is more fragile than ever. However, the themes of Mental Health Week can, from a student’s perspective, remain rather abstract, at a distance from the material realities that shape modern student life.
The life of an art student often revolves around the daily struggles of getting by. Everyday course meetings and developing one’s own artistic practice or pracitcing one’s own instrument are overshadowed by worry about keeping a roof overhead and having enough food on the table, for oneself and sometimes also for one’s family. In addition to working, one is expected to make progress in one’s studies, which – especially at Uniarts – often demand undivided attention, significant personal, temporal, and even financial investments, as well as determined self‑management.
I would argue that mental health and its close relative, “faith in the future” are concepts that emerge as by‑products of experiencing basic security kokemuksesta. Perusturvalla tarkoitetaan perustuslain 19 §:n 2 momentin mukaista syyperusteista perustoimeentulon turvaa. Perusturvaan voidaan katsoa kuuluvan etuudet, jotka eivät ole ansiosidonnaisia. Tällaisia etuuksia ovat muun muassa asumistuki, toimeentulotuki, vammaistuki, opintotuki ja vähimmäispäivärahat.”
In the Basic Security Report 2021 Perusturvaraportissa 2021 lainataan haastateltavaa jo kannessa: ”live in a constant state of crisis and distress.” I would note that the report was published before the Petteri Orpo government and the massive cuts to student well‑being — including the reinstatement of the separate student housing supplement, the reform of social assistance, and, as the final touch, record‑high unemployment. I can’t help but wonder how the person who gave that quote is doing now.
For art to change the world, we need artists who are hungry in mind, not in body. I am certainly not the only one who does not want to be part of a Uniarts where only the strongest and wealthiest succeed, and where EU citizenship is the key to opportunity. Art and culture arise from thought and perspective, not from intergenerational wealth or the “right” citizenship.
I am proud that Uniarts is an internationally recognised and respected institution; a place people wish to come to from across the oceans to learn and create art. With a touch of bitter irony, one could say that the astronomical tuition fees for non‑EU students introduced by the Orpo government will likely improve international students’ mental‑health statistics in the long run: it simply won’t be possible to study in Finland anymore if you are poor. From a broader perspective, however, I do not believe that decisions like this will make Finland a more attractive place to study, live, or create art.
I will conclude my catalogue of hardships (which could be expanded endlessly) with a couple of self‑evident points that, at the very least, undermine my own mental health and confidence in the future: Where is future confidence supposed to come from when the Finnish government is actively violating the Climate Act and failing to do enough to intervene in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians or to halt our NATO partner, the United States’, latest imperialist mega‑projects?
En sano, etteikö tulevaisuususkoa olisi, mutta toivon, että opiskelijoiden mielenterveydestä ei puhuttaisi tänäkään vuonna kuin se tapahtuisi tyhjiössä. Kuten Taideyliopiston arvoissa linjataan: olemme osaavia, tietäviä ja tuntevia – emme optimoitavia koneita. Emme voi tehdä taidetta, jos perustarpeemme eivät tule täytetyiksi, vaikka hyvinvoinnin ammattilaisen kehotuksesta muistaisimme levätä tai ”hengähtää”. Mielenterveydestä puhuminen on tärkeää, mutta minulle mielekkäämpää on hahmottaa se riittävän by‑product of adequate basic security – on a planet that hasn’t died standing.
Quoting the anti‑capitalist Emilia Network, whose reading‑circle event title at the Käänne Festival inspired me: I want “Everything for Everyone” – not just begging to regain lost benefits, but abundance and cream cake for all, as well as the power to imagine and build different ways of living together. I want to rejoice!
You can meet TaiYo’s staff and board members on both Helsinki campuses this week – we’ll be serving free coffee to students for lack of anything better. At the Sörnäinen campus we’ll be at TeaK’s Tori on Wednesday 11 March from 11:00 to 13:00, and at the Töölö campus at Agora on Thursday 12 March from 11:00 to 13:00. You are warmly welcome to come talk with us about anything that comes to mind or relates to mental health. We’re here to listen.
As Prime Minister Marin once memorably said: if you’re exhausted, just try to keep going! Hopefully the coffee helps at least a little.
In the song “Kaunis Marjaana” by Scandinavian Music Group, the lyrics go:
Fair Marjaana keeps on pedalling
Her screws are coming loose
And the tyres spin empty
Fair Marjaana closes her eyes
There is always someone who will catch you
At TaiYo, we work tirelessly to address the root causes of students’ mental‑health challenges, both locally and globally — so that everyone has someone who will catch them.
Tea Sirén
Board Member
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