A big day came on October 17, 2023, in Hotel Arthur in Helsinki where Psychologiliitto’s Culturally and Liguistically Diverse Work Group held their first seminar on the issues of culturally & linguistically diverse psychologists in Finland. I gave a presentation on the issue of registration of foreign educated psychological professionals as part of the program! This issue has been a thorn in my neck personally and is a huge source of concern for many foreign psychological professionals who have moved to Finland. So it was a big step forward to be able to report the current situation and make suggestions in a public forum based on data. I am so proud of myself doing this!
Psykologiliitto itself is not an accreditation body for psychologists but a labor union for psychologists. Therefore it cannot directly make changes in registration. However, we hope that based on their recognition of the problems Psychologiliitto would lend hands to ensure that foreign-educated psychological professionals would receive the same services provided to other foreign-educated health professionals and that their registration will be smoother.
Other presentations made by Ruth Franko, Hatty Francis-Ehnholm, Stela Salminen, Viktoriia Ivanova and Heide Eriksen were really intriguing and thought-provoking which made my day so special and stimulating! I got to know many working psychological professionals from diverse cultural backgrounds in Finland and those Finnish psychologists who are supportive and interested in the matter. Thank you, Annabel Battersby and the Cultural and Liguistical Diversity Working Group, for organizing the event. Thanks to all of you, we had a very special day!
