I first became interested in mental healthcare during my early years living in Pori on Finland's west coast. My paternal grandmother had been institutionalized for decades with schizophrenia, and I heard my father talk about how her treatment had included a lobotomy. I was shocked that such an invasive procedure had not only been used widely but was also awarded a Nobel prize. I thought then that I could easily develop better ideas to help those suffering from severe mental health challenges – ones that honor their rights and dignity. But growing up in a rough neighborhood temporarily distracted me. I grew troubled, joined a neighborhood gang, and was nearly expelled from school. But aged 14, I rediscovered a natural aptitude for playing music, which would set me on a better path. This love of music and interest in more compassionate care for the institutionalized would lay the foundations for my future change-making.

Having worked as a music producer for recording studios, I experienced what I call a transformation at 30. I found myself playing music as social and political commentary more and more, focusing on poverty's effects. I also went to nursing school and studied musical therapy. Recalling my own challenges as a teen, I decided I wanted to work with mental health patients to boost their self-esteem and sense of agency. I began this work in hospitals and private foundations, and I was committed to helping them show what they could do.

I remember working with a schizophrenic patient whom he thought had felt disempowered by how hospital staff cared for him. I then started a choir with 12 mental health patients to create opportunities to express themselves and co-create. Doing so meant the patient could exercise agency in a new way, in a context where he had felt mainly powerless.

Still inspired by the disbelief of what my grandmother had suffered, I discovered how honoring these people's dignity enabled them to create and succeed. The professional shift from therapist or expert to facilitator in a clinical setting was something new in Finland's mental healthcare sector in 2007. We surveyed young adults dealing with

mental health challenges and found that what they wanted most was to do something meaningful and that they didn't want to feel isolated anymore. This led to a client-centered approach that emphasized strengths and skills over diagnoses. I became the project manager in 2009 for a project called ELVIS and directed its pilot over the next three years. A train the trainer model, an application from the crowdsourcing business model, was designed with two therapist colleagues and then helped GFP spread.

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