Alena Markava

Your soft integration is my job.

Consulting on social issues and adaptation in Finland.
Support working with social services and medical institutions.

Have you moved to Finland?
You are very welcome!

My role is to make your arrival in this country easier, providing a comfortable and safe space for you and your family.

My name is Alena Markava, and I am a social consultant with more than ten years of work experience with immigrants to Finland.

My expertise is in:

  • Working with people
  • The preparation of documents for the migration service
  • Kela applications and benefits
  • Other social services and various departments
  • The knowledge of health issues
  • Children with special needs
  • The Finnish education system
  • Education for adults
  • Work possibilities
  • Social life and networking
  • The state integration program

My contact:     finnishconsult@gmail.com

For organisations my expertise is in:

  • The development of integration training courses for immigrants
  • The training of boards and employees of non-profit organisations
  • Lectures on the work of the social system and public services in Finland
  • Needs assessment
  • The training for interaction with social departments and services outside of Finland in collaboration with ”LivingSkills”

Ask more:  finnishconsult@gmail.com

About myself:

I am a sociologist and educator for adults. I have a diploma in management and working with multicultural families. I also participate in volunteer work courses, peer group sessions, mentoring and support workshops, and working with intercultural communities.

My activities:

Since 2017, I have been a teacher at the orientation course for foreigners at the Taitotalo training centre, Helsinki.

In the last year, I have worked as a translator in social services and the medical field.

For over ten years, I have worked and been an active volunteer in the non-profit sector. Training leaders of non-profit organisations, helping create societies, working with documents, applying for funding, solving practical problems and writing reports.

From 2011 to 2023, I led a large community of Russian-speaking families in Finland called KlubOk. I developed a training course on volunteer work based on Finnish management traditions and the cultural characteristics of my students.

For three years, I worked as a coordinator in a socially important project for the Russian-speaking inhabitants of Finland called «Together To Health». The project provided information and psychological support to people with chronic diseases and their families. Work on this project is still ongoing. In addition, I lead a support group for people with cancer.

I have experience working in a reception centre for refugees and as a support person for my clients.

I have provided more than 3,000 hours of face-to-face counselling for immigrants in Finland. My clients and I have solved many difficult situations, from submitting documents to the migration service to the placement, or not placement, of children under guardianship outside the family.

In many cases my clients were Russian-speaking immigrants. When working in the advisory service for foreigners in the city of Espoo, I worked with people of different cultures, different histories and migrant status.

I continue to work with Russian speaking clients.

International activity:

I have represented Finland at international conferences in Kazakhstan, presenting how the Finnish preschool and school education system, social support and care are implemented. I have also presented on similar topics at conferences in Russia and Latvia.

Since 2020, I have represented the Finnish company ”LivingSkills” in Kazakhstan, training social work professionals to use their needs assessment program.

Contact me:

+358 451 37 73 74

finnishconsult@gmail.com

FB: https://www.facebook.com/lena.markova.fin

Instagram: @lena.helsinki