The Keidas meeting point at the Espoon keskus Family Centre has already been open for over a year
The daily life at the meeting point is run by a very diverse group of people who organise different kinds of group activities for local families with children. The Keidas meeting point is open from Monday to Thursday 8.00–18.00 and on Fridays 8.00–16.00 Fri. The premises are open to families even when there is no instructed activity.
Families with children have made the place their own and the number of people attending the groups has grown steadily.
The families’ role in developing the activities has been significant. Visitor surveys reveal the need for the activities and the way they bring joy to people’s daily lives. When families were asked what kinds of experiences they have of the meeting point, they answered that they feel welcome and that spending time at the meeting point has been pleasant. They have met new people and children have found new friends for their games at the Keidas meeting point. Children have been taken into account in the activities. Some wondered how they could have influenced the programme of the meeting point or other matters.
The development of the activities involved professionals working at the family centre, people operating in the actor-network of the meeting point and visitors to the meeting point. Designated mornings for joint development work were held in May and October. The theme for the development morning in spring was meeting people and creating house rules for good meetings at the meeting point. In October, the parties assessed how accessible the meeting point is and how well participation and wishes are realised there. The joint development mornings have been a good way of involving both actors and visitors in joint themes. Family centre professionals play an important role, and their impact reaches beyond client communications and guidance, as they work directly with families and lower the threshold for contacting the necessary services.
The coordinators of the meeting point appreciate the results of the joint development mornings because the joint effort and workshops have provided them with valuable information about how to implement the activities in practice.
Visitor surveys highlighted how visiting the meeting point or participating in the activities has….
• supported my ability to cope in daily life 3.3
• provided me with the feeling that I belong to a group 3.4
• provided more information about services for families with children 3.5
• increased my confidence in my own abilities as a parent or a child’s close adult 3.4
• been a source of joy and delight 3.8
(Response options: 1= not at all, 2= to an extent, 3= I don’t know, 4= quite a lot, 5= very much). The number is the calculated average of the responses.
One of the cornerstones of the accessibility of the meeting point is providing comprehensive information about the activities at the meeting point so that as many families as possible know about the available activities. When people need the services of the family centre, they go from the main entrance to the lifts to go to the correct floor, which means that the meeting point located on the first floor may go unnoticed. We got many good ideas for how to solve this problem, and we look forward to implementing them. In addition, different communication channels were considered alongside the meeting point’s own webpages, and we are actively introducing them to our operations.
A meeting point that reflects its visitors’ wishes is a place where visitors can spend time with other families with children, get support from their peers and professionals and access information about the services for families with children. It is a source of joy and helps its visitors cope with their, at times, busy daily lives.