The growing level of mental ill health among young people is one of the greatest challenges facing public health in our Nordic societies.

In this publication, we will be presenting Nordic organisations that we hope will provide inspiration and contribute to the greater Nordic synergy.

We are working in a similar way in the Nordic region with the heterogeneous group of young people who risk ending up in vulnerable situations on account of a range of factors. But we are working and are sufficiently different to be inspired by things we can develop, and we are aiming to improve the things we are already doing.

When we look at these organisations, we can see that they all apply different forms of organisation, they are headed by different people, they use different forms of finance. But a strong youth perspective is something they all have in common. The young people involved are treated with respect, seen and listened to.

And the other common theme is that no matter what form of organisation is applied, there is a culture of openness towards multisectoral cooperation – in other words, an unpretentious approach where the needs of young people are the controlling factor.