We want to introduce the people at the World Association for Infant Mental Health you can connect and work with. In the last Issue of Perspectives the new Executive Director Kaija Puura told you more about herself. Senior Administrator Minna Sorsa told you about herself in the previous article. And the new Associate Executive Director Reija Latva was introduced in the latest article.
Sari Miettinen
My first WAIMH Congress was in beautiful Cape Town South Africa in 2012, where I gave my first oral presentation in English. I was thrilled with the WAIMH atmosphere and all the enthusiastic and inspiring WAIMH members and leaders. So I was really honored when I was offered the opportunity to work at the WAIMH Central Office. I started as a part-time Administrative Assistant in the WAIMH Central Office last fall, in October 2017.
I trained as a mental health nurse and pediatric nurse (RN) and now work as a Nurse Practitioner (NP). I have been working at the Department of Child Psychiatry in Tampere University Hospital nearly two decades and in the field of psychiatry and mental health overall for a quarter of a century.
Besides my work as a Nurse Practitioner, I have worked as a research nurse for two doctoral dissertations (doctor of medicine). My interest is in developing mental health services and over the years I have been involved in many research and development projects here in Finland. Besides our clinical work at Tampere University Hospital, I have been working with our former Executive Director Pälvi Kaukonen and new Executive Director Kaija Puura and with our Senior Administrator Minna Sorsa within these projects. The latest project has been working as a part-time project coordinator in 2017-2018, in the Finnish government’s key project: a national program to address reform in child and family services. The program contains four themes: a family center model, development of services at specialized and the most demanding levels, a new operational culture to strengthen children’s rights and access to basic information, and early childhood education, schools and other educational institutions to support the wellbeing of children and youth. I have been coordinating the development of services at specialized levels and the integration of services in the Pirkanmaa Hospital District.
Outside my work I am a mother of two young adults just starting their own lives, still living at home with me and my husband. We love to travel and our hobby is sailing. I also adore cats, and I breed gorgeous Siberian cats.
Contact Sari: memberships (at) waimh.org
From the Central Office: Introducing the people working in the WAIMH Central Office
