Youth Guarantee in practice: Elisa's journey to a better life

With support from the Youth Guarantee scheme, many young people in Europe have managed to find a job or follow a course which gives their career a boost. This is Elisa's story, from Finland.

A Start Workshop, an initiative supported by the Youth Guarantee scheme in Finland, proved to be the beginning of Elisa's journey to a better life. Her therapist told her about this opportunity when she was suffering from depression and was unemployed for 1.5 years.

These workshops offer a flexible service to young people who need assistance and training to improve their educational attainment or to find a job.

The experience led her to secure a job trial at a day care centre, where she is now working as an apprentice.

"Youth Guarantee helped to make a difference"

"Although in the final stages of rehabilitation I had the strength and the will to take on more meaningful activities and to change the rhythm of my daily life, I still lacked the mental resources to work or to study,"she explains."The Start Workshop was the right choice for me."

"I believe it has played a significant role in my rehabilitation. The fact that I’ve been forced to get out of the house several days a week to meet people, and practise my social skills, has been a vital part of my rehabilitation."

Key facts

• The unemployment rate for under 25s in Finland was 22% in October 2015.
• The Youth Guarantee offers every young Finnish resident under 25 – and recent graduates under 30 – a job, a work trial, a study place, a workshop placement or rehabilitation within three months of registering as unemployed.
• In Finland, Start Workshops give participants the opportunity to learn new skills and build self-confidence. In addition, youth outreach workers are on hand to guide young people to the services that are most appropriate to their needs.