Meet the staff

Arja Timonen, director Arja Timonen, director Arja Timonen, director Arja Timonen, director Arja Timonen is an occupational therapist with a specialization in psychiatry. For the last seven years, she has done organizational work which has prepared her for the duties of an manager. In the Fountain House concept she values communality and the focus on the members. As the leader of a clubhouse, Arja hopes to be impartial and responsible and go on developing the clubhouse together with the members and staff. She wants to be a fellow person and a professional at the same time. Arja’s family consists of a husband, three daughters, one son and two tomcats. She considers her best qualities to be empathy, resilience, getting excited about new things and being able to laugh at herself. However, she feels she tends to be too work-orientated and flexible. A “No” every now and then would be better. When asked what animal she would like to be, she replied: “A cat. They know how to enjoy life but they also have a strong character. “ Jenni Salakari, tutor Jenni Salakari, tutor Jenni Salakari, tutor Jenni Salakari, tutor Jenni is a social welfare supervisor by profession. She specially wanted to work at the clubhouse because it’s concept matched her own idea about how mental care should be developed and how mental health rehabilitatees should be supported. Jenni started working with an open mind. Now her thoughts of the necessity of the work clubhouse does and the value she puts on her own work have strengthened. Jenni’s family consists of her boyfriend and a cat, Ernesti. He is the same color as Garfield, (the comic book cat). Her godchildren, Kaspar and Valtteri, are also an important part of her life. She describes herself as a happy, humorous, sociable and responsible hermit by nature. If marooned on a desert island, she would bring with her MacGyver, a satellite phone, waterproof matches, an axe and a month’s ration of excursion supplies. Right upon arrival she would urge MacGyver to look for water and she herself would dial 0100100 (a Finnish number service) with the satellite phone.

Satu Laakso, tutor Satu Laakso, tutor Satu Laakso, tutor Satu Laakso, tutor Satu is the one who keeps our “media hut“ running and computers functioning. She has a datanome’s education and has been working at the clubhouse since September 2009. Satu teaches different IT skills, from the basics to more advanced skills such as creating home pages. She also coordinates and helps to edit our club magazine. Satu has enjoyed her time here. She has a positive attitude towards life. She encourages doing things with lots of emotion and she thinks the best thing in life is life itself. Injustice and people treating others badly make her angry. When asked what she would do if she won the lottery, she replied she’d get a motorcycle.