Support and activities for children and young people
The Finnish Red Cross offers children and young people various kinds of activities and support, e.g. clubs and camps, help with loneliness or support with homework.
Our youth groups and Reddie Kids clubs provide useful life tools, such as first aid skills, taking responsibility or making an impact to your immediate environment. Our Homework Help volunteers provide support after school and our volunteer friends and different groups can provide much-needed social relationships.
In the Red Cross, a child or a young person has the opportunity to learn useful skills and make new friends.
Do you need help in sorting something out in your life? Is there something going on at home or elsewhere that you would like to change? At the Finnish Red Cross Youth Shelters , we can help you.
You can ask us about anything related to adolescence or parenting. We help people deal with everyday occurrences or emergencies.
Youth Shelters offer safe places to stay for symptomless young people in the form of temporary accommodation even in exceptional circumstances. Temporary accommodation for young people is open every day from 5 pm to 10 am.
Youth Shelters are intoxicant-free to ensure that everyone feels safe there.
We can work together to find the best solution for you. Parents also receive support in matters concerning parenting.
The shelter services are available 24 hours a day on weekdays and during evenings and nights at weekends. You can call us or visit the shelter.
You can contact us on your own initiative with no need for a referral. All Youth Shelter services are free of charge.
Contact the Youth Shelter
We also help young people throughout Finland in our Sekasin chat.
Loneliness can be experienced by young people, adults and seniors alike, regardless of their age, gender or cultural background. Loneliness can be caused by long distances to family members or a new and unfamiliar situation in life. Forming friendships can be difficult for a number of different reasons.
Volunteers in the Red Cross friend activities bring joy to the everyday lives of lonely people. You can ask for a long-term friendship or one-off help for yourself or your loved one.
All Red Cross volunteers have been trained for their tasks. First and foremost, the volunteer friend is a listener and a psychosocial support. You can have coffee, go to the theatre or take a walk with your friend. You and your friend can decide on how to meet. You can also have anonymous discussions online with your volunteer friend, via email messages for example.
Contact your local friend service
If your area does not have a friend service, contact your local Red Cross branch or district office
Reddie Kids is the Finnish Red Cross club for 7–12-year-olds. The club activities aim to offer young people a fun and safe environment in which to get to know the Red Cross values and e.g. first aid skills through play and games.
In addition to basic first aid skills and safety, the themes of the Reddie Kids club activities include friendship, refugees, tolerance and the understanding and respecting of different cultures.
The club is a great opportunity for adolescents to get to know the Red Cross activities and principles. The club also offers lots of fun and new friends.
The Reddie Kids club activities vary by town. You can find clubs in our event calendar or contact your closest district or local branch.
Find clubs in our event calendar (in Finnish)
Youth group activities offer young people an opportunity to show that they dare to care. The group activities allow 13–17-year-olds to make a difference in their immediate environment and take a stand for a better everyday life and the vulnerable.
Youth groups typically gather once a week for an hour or two. The groups discuss the themes of Red Cross activities, go on visits and take part in campaigns. Game and movie nights are also a part of the group activities.
Contact the employee responsible for youth activities in your district or your nearest branch to find youth groups where you live! If your branch does not yet have a group for adolescents, gather a bunch of people together and establish your own! Contact the employee responsible for youth activities in your district for instructions and support.
Contact your closest Finnish Red Cross district office or local branch
At the Finnish Red Cross summer camps, children and young people learn new skills and form new friendships. They also get to know the different forms of Red Cross operations, such as first aid and friend activities, international aid or humanitarian law.
Contact your local Finnish Red Cross district office for information about camps
Find camps in our event calendar
The Finnish Red Cross’s Homework Help provides pupils with help with their homework after school. Volunteer instructors help with the homework. At homework clubs, people can talk and spend time together.
Homework Help focuses on completing the homework after lessons. Homework Help instructors can help e.g. when the task seem difficult and parents are unable to help. Homework Help allows pupils to go through their homework together with our instructors.
Instructors also listen to their worries and offer encouragement when studying feels hard. At the club, kids can do their homework, spend time together, play games and chat.
Homework Help is intended for comprehensive school students, i.e. primary and secondary school students. Homework Help clubs are especially intended for children and young people who have moved to Finland, but all pupils are welcome to the club. Homework Help clubs are led by trained Red Cross volunteer instructors.
In addition to helping with the homework, the club is a place where young people gain self-confidence and new friends. Homework Help aims to help with schooling and encourage as many young people as possible to continue to a vocational or upper secondary school after completing their comprehensive education.
The local volunteer branches of the Finnish Red Cross organise Homework Help clubs in several towns.
Contact your closest Finnish Red Cross district office to learn about local activities