Coach training: Mental Health Coach In one year, you learn to relate differently to other people and to yourself.
This year-long coach training programme teaches you how the mind works and how to meet a person who is under strain. It takes place online, and you can train as a Mental Health Coach without a background in health or social care.
The Mental Health Coach and MHC Brief Therapist programmes are currently taught in Finnish: live sessions, recordings and peer groups.
For those who work with people and want to get better at it.
You learn what is happening in another person’s mind, and why. After that, your work puts less strain on you, and you get there without a training path that takes many years. This programme differs from a typical coaching course in its content: you learn core mental health and therapy skills, and you can go on to train as an MHC Brief Therapist.
More tools
A new perspective to use alongside your professional skills, and words for situations where, until now, you have not known what to say.
A new skill you can sell
Your clients will become overloaded at some point. Learn what to do when that happens, and make it part of your services.
Everyday interactions
Handle even demanding conversations more skilfully, without wearing yourself out.
Five themes that build one set of skills
On Sundays, you watch the lesson together and talk it through. No previous knowledge of the field is needed.
01How the mind works15 evening lessons
02Mental health challenges15 evening lessons
03Relational skills5 evening lessons
04Wellbeing5 evening lessons
05Your identity as a coach4 evening lessons
Empathic Realism: promises we can keep.
Empathic Realism (ER) combines empathy with realism, because helping someone takes both: empathy brings warmth, and realism brings honesty. We teach skills that still work when things are at their hardest. We do not promise that positive thinking will fix everything.
Safety and connection come first, and then the truth, told with compassion. People who feel understood are able to hear the truth, and hearing it in a safe setting makes change possible. Mental Health Club (MHC) programmes do not qualify you as a psychotherapist in Finland. You learn to help people and to recognise when to refer them on to other help. Read about Empathic Realism
- There is always more beneath the surface than what is said
- Mental health is a shared concern, and no one gets better alone
Together online, every week
You can start this week. In your first month, you attend four evening lessons and debrief them with a trainer on Sundays. If you cannot join live, the recording stays available for one month. You study together with other people.
A lesson and a debrief every week
One lesson at your own pace and a one-hour group debrief. Recordings stay available for one month, so your start date is flexible.
A watch party every Sunday
You watch the lesson together remotely on Zoom, and half of the time is for discussion with the community. Recordings stay available for one month.
A small group of 3 to 5 people
Six meetings where you practise listening and being present without giving advice. Everyone gets equal time to speak, silence is allowed, and confidentiality is respected.
Practising professionals
Taught by five psychotherapists. Each one is introduced below with a photo and their professional background.
Who teaches you
You are taught by psychotherapists Ville Merinen, Mika Karppinen, Riina Tähti-Georgiadis, Minttu Lämsä and Maija Koskinen. Ville Merinen, known online as Terapeutti-Ville (Therapist Ville), designed the programme content.
Designed the programme content and is responsible for its quality. Also trains companies. More than 300,000 people follow his mental health content on Instagram and TikTok (in Finnish).
A psychotherapist with long experience who helps students put the core skills of therapy into practice and practise them safely. Also trains companies.
Teaches evening lessons, runs training for organisations and has her own private practice. Profile in the therapist directory (in Finnish).
Teaches evening lessons, runs training for organisations and has her own private practice. Profile in the therapist directory (in Finnish).
Teaches evening lessons, runs training for organisations and has her own private practice. Profile in the therapist directory (in Finnish).
You pay month by month.
€129/month, paid month by month, with no upfront fee and no hidden costs. You receive a certificate of completion once you have finished the programme and your reflective journal.
- 44 evening lessons, 5 themes
- Sunday live debriefs on Zoom
- Your own peer group of 3 to 5 people
- Recordings available for one month, and a community chat
- Certificate of completion
- Currently taught in Finnish
Prices include 25.5% VAT.
Frequently asked questions about the Coach programme.
Does the Mental Health Coach programme require previous training?
How much does the Coach programme cost?
What is the difference between a Mental Health Coach and a life coach?
How does studying work in practice?
Can I go on from the Coach programme to train as a brief therapist?
Do I receive a certificate?
Read before you enrol.
- 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.
- Student experiences of the trainingWhat students say about the Mental Health Coach and MHC Brief Therapist programmes, in their own words (translated from Finnish).
A year that changes the way you listen.
Start with the Coach year and, if you wish, go on to train as an MHC Brief Therapist. The price is the same in both years: €129/month (incl. 25.5% VAT).