Meetings with positive effects

S Group hotels support the Finnish Association for Mental Health

Organising a meeting at one of the S Group's hotels this year will have a positive effect, not only on the participants but also on promoting mental health. The three hotel chains operated by S Group have initiated co-operation with the Finnish Association for Mental Health to support mental health education for young adolescents.

Among the S Group's hotel chains the partnership is being manifested in the "Meetings with positive effects" campaign. Accordingly, S Group hotels will donate one euro per participant of all meetings reserved during the campaign to support the work of the Finnish Association for Mental Health. Participating hotels in Finland include Sokos Hotels, Radisson Blu Hotels and Holiday Club Spa Hotels, comprising altogether around 60 hotels and their conference services.

"Our goal with this partnership to encourage our conference clients to consider the importance of mental health also within their own companies. Conferences and meetings are very important for promoting wellbeing within the workplace. These days face-to-face meetings are often replaced by teleconferences or videoconferences, but it is important that people get the chance from time to time to actually meet with others in order to exchange views and plan ahead," says Sari Palokangas, Tourism and Hospitality Manager at SOK.

The donations made by the S Group's hotel chains will go to the Finnish Association for Mental Health's school programme. The Finnish Association for Mental Health has created a teaching programme for mental health aimed at young adolescents. The teaching programme includes training for teachers and motivating teaching materials that can be used in class. Teaching mental health skills to young adolescents encourages them to find their own strengths, practice their social skills with others and to seek help should they find themselves in trouble.

"We are pleased to co-operate with the S Group's hotel chains. This partnership allows us to tell the S Group's customers about our work and programme. All the teachers who are participating in the programme receive valuable teaching materials, and with the support of S Group hotels we can offer training and materials for even more teachers," says Marjo Hannukkala, Project Manager at the Finnish Association for Mental Health.


The "Mental Health Skills of Young Adolescents" programme (2008-2011) is being funded by the Ministry of Education and carried out by the Finnish Association for Mental Health. The programme is providing training for 700 school teachers throughout Finland responsible for providing health education to their pupils.