Resilience from Everyday Life: A Regional Model for Strengthening Community Mental Resilience

Strengthening Everyday Community Resilience Together

Project Duration

22.9.2026 – 21.9.2027

Source of Funding

Sitra

Total Funding

125,000 €

In this project, we co-develop with local residents a community-based model that strengthens everyday psychological resilience in communities. Drawing on the lived experiences of people living in neighbourhoods, the model is grounded in their own perspectives on coping, social connectedness, and participation. We collect experiential knowledge through workshops and digital storytelling, and use these insights to create a transferable model that supports trust, a sense of belonging, and communities’ capacity to navigate change and crises.

In Finland, mental resilience has traditionally been examined mainly from the perspective of institutions and middle-class majority groups. This project brings people in vulnerable situations into active roles as knowledge producers and co-developers, rather than seeing them only as beneficiaries or target groups. The aim is to create a regional model for supporting mental resilience in neighbourhoods, with a special focus on three key dimensions: (1) participation, (2) a sense of belonging, and (3) personal agency.

The model is based on the experiences, peer support, and community spirit of residents in the Pansio area of Turku. Together with professionals, these strengths will be developed into practical ways of working. The project takes a strengths-based approach, recognising that people living on low incomes often have valuable resilience gained through life experience, as well as strong community connections from which others can learn. As a result, the project will create a scalable model and practical tools that can be used across Finland to strengthen community resilience.