Online mental health training: Mental Health Coach and MHC Brief Therapist You become the person others feel safe being themselves with.
Programme designer and lead trainer Ville Merinen, known online as Terapeutti-Ville (Therapist Ville).
The Mental Health Coach year teaches you how the mind works and how to meet a person who is under strain. The MHC Brief Therapist year turns this into a way of working with clients. You study online on Sundays, together with real people.
The Mental Health Coach and MHC Brief Therapist programmes are currently taught in Finnish: live sessions, recordings and peer groups.
- years on the full training path
- 2
- evening lessons
- 88
- themes
- 5
- students in our programmes
- 90+
- per month (incl. 25.5% VAT)
- €129
Core skills first, then a way of working.
First you learn to understand what is happening in another person’s mind. Then you learn a way of working that can influence it. Two years, 88 evening lessons, clinical supervision (paid separately) and a community that continues after you finish.
- Year 1
Mental Health Coach
How the mind works and why people become overloaded. In practice: listening, boundaries and putting experiences into words.
- Year 2
MHC Brief Therapist
A short-term therapeutic way of working, personal therapy, practice clients and supervision. The first Brief Therapist year starts in January 2027. Personal therapy and supervision are paid separately.
- When you finish
Certificate & community
You receive a certificate of completion. After the programme, you can stay in the community at an affordable price to revise and keep learning.
Coach first, then Brief Therapist.
The full training path takes two years: first the Mental Health Coach year, then, if you choose, the MHC Brief Therapist year. Both cost €129/month (incl. 25.5% VAT). If you already have training in therapy or coaching, you can apply directly to the Brief Therapist year (application in Finnish).
- Trainers
Taught by psychotherapists. The teaching is integrative: we combine several therapeutic traditions, our lead trainers work from a psychodynamic orientation, and we add Empathic Realism, an approach we developed ourselves.
- Community
You learn with other people: the Sunday live session, your own peer group and a community you can stay in after the programme.
- Price
Programmes with an upfront fee cost thousands of euros in advance. With Mental Health Club (MHC), you pay one month at a time, and the price is the same in both years.
- Mental Health Coach: the basics of how the mind works
- 44 evening lessons, 5 themes
- Sunday watch party on Zoom
- Recordings and peer groups of 3 to 5 people
- Certificate of completion
- Currently taught in Finnish
- MHC Brief Therapist: a short-term therapeutic way of working
- Supervised client practice and 9 peer group meetings
- Requires the Coach year or equivalent prior training
- Currently taught in Finnish
The first Brief Therapist year starts in January 2027. Personal therapy (20 sessions) and supervision (5 × 90 minutes, €314) are paid separately.
Prices include 25.5% VAT.
For you, if you work with people.
Therapists and nurses
More tools for your client work, and a new short-term therapeutic way of working that you can offer as a paid service, without a training path that takes many years.
Coaches and entrepreneurs
When a client becomes overloaded, coaching comes to a stop. Learn what to do at that point, and offer it as part of your services.
Social work and education
Difficult conversations are part of your everyday work. Learn to have them without wearing yourself out.
You can join without a qualification in health or social care.
Our students include nurses, teachers, managers, coaches and entrepreneurs. What they have in common is that they work with people and want to get better at it.
- Nurses
- Teachers
- Managers
- Parents
- Coaches
- Entrepreneurs
- Social work
- Electricians
- Executives
- Manual workers
- You
Online every week, together with others.
You can start this week. The evening lessons are on Sundays via Zoom, and if you cannot join live, the recording stays available for one month. You practise the skills in a group.
Sunday watch party
You watch the lesson together with a trainer. Half of the time is for discussion with the community.
Peer groups
A small group of 3 to 5 people (usually 4), with six meetings. You practise the skills in a safe setting, listening without giving advice.
Recordings at your own pace
Recordings stay available for one month. You can keep up even if you are busy on a Sunday evening. Live sessions and recordings are in Finnish.
Flexible start
You can start as soon as this week. You join the community straight away and study together with others.
“No one gets better alone. Mental health is always about how we meet one another, too.”
Coach, brief therapist or psychotherapist?
These are three different training paths with different entry requirements. In Finland, psychotherapist is a protected occupational title supervised by the Finnish Supervisory Agency, and the training is open only to people with a qualification in health or social care. Mental Health Coach and MHC Brief Therapist are practical programmes that you can join without a background in the field.
| Criterion | Mental Health Coach | MHC Brief Therapist | Psychotherapist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration | 12 months. You can start this week | 12 months after the Coach year. The first Brief Therapist year starts in January 2027 | At least 60 ECTS credits over 4 years, as continuing education at a university |
| Entry requirements | No previous training required | The Mental Health Coach year, or previous training in therapy or coaching (by application) | A qualification in health or social care, 30 ECTS credits in psychology or psychiatry and 2 years of work experience in mental health |
| Price | €129/month (incl. 25.5% VAT). You commit one month at a time | €129/month (incl. 25.5% VAT). Personal therapy sessions and supervision are paid separately | Varies by training programme. Personal therapy and supervision are paid separately |
| Format | Online, in Finnish: 44 live evening lessons, recordings for one month and a peer group | Online: 44 evening lessons in Finnish, 20 personal therapy sessions and 40 hours of supervised client practice | In-person teaching alongside your own work, personal psychotherapy and supervised work with patients |
| Title | Mental Health Coach. Coach is not a protected title in Finland | MHC Brief Therapist. Brief therapist is not a protected title in Finland | Psychotherapist, a protected occupational title for healthcare professionals in Finland, supervised by the Finnish Supervisory Agency |
| What you can do | People-facing work and coaching in your own profession or alongside it | Short-term therapeutic work with clients as a self-employed practitioner. Does not diagnose or treat illnesses | Psychotherapy as a healthcare professional, including rehabilitative psychotherapy partly reimbursed by Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland |
| Kela reimbursement for the client | No | No | Yes, from Kela-approved psychotherapists |
Sources on psychotherapist training: University of Eastern Finland and Kela. In Finland, coach and brief therapist are not protected titles, and Kela does not reimburse sessions with a coach or an MHC Brief Therapist. The 44 evening lessons and five themes of the Coach year are described on the Coach programme page.
The more people understand the mind, the fewer people end up alone.
No other training has shaped me as a person as strongly as this one, in a good way. The trainers are highly skilled, inspiring and responsive. It suits anyone who wants to learn something new about themselves and to meet people even more genuinely and with more empathy.
An effective, sociable programme that makes you happy!
It feels wonderful to find a programme from Finland that even those of us who have moved away from Finland can take remotely. The professional skill and the warm way people are met are exactly what gave me the courage to join. I have already met lovely new people in the peer groups.
Translated from Finnish.
Read these before you decide.
- Therapy studies: who can train as a therapist, and how (in Finnish)Which therapy studies are open to whom, what studying involves each week and what it costs.
- Brief therapist or psychotherapist? (in Finnish)How the titles differ, which one helps in which situation and which path is open to you.
- How to train as a brief therapist (in Finnish)The training path step by step: the Coach year, the Brief Therapist year, personal therapy sessions and supervised client practice.
- Becoming a therapist without a background in health or social care (in Finnish)What is possible without a qualification in health or social care, and what is not.
Frequently asked questions.
Do I need a background in the field?
How does studying work in practice?
How much does the training cost?
Can I start with just the Coach year?
Can I work as a therapist after the training?
What is the difference between a brief therapist and a psychotherapist?
Can I train as a therapist without a background in health or social care?
Is this therapy training or therapist training?
Start with the Mental Health Coach year, then train as an MHC Brief Therapist.
The price and the community stay the same for the whole training path. €129/month (incl. 25.5% VAT), month by month.