Meri Larivaara

Meri Larivaara is the director of adult mental health promotion at MIELI Mental Health Finland, the oldest mental health non-profit organisation in the world. Meri is a medical doctor with a specialist degree in health care and a cultural anthropologist. She holds a Doctoral degree in Medical Science. Her work centres around advocacy and mental health promotion of adult population in working-age and later life. She was a Board Member of Mental Health Europe in 2019–2021. She was a member of the secretariat of the specialist group that prepared the National Mental Health Strategy 2020–2030 in Finland. She has previously worked as a civil servant at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland and as a Development Manager at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). She has worked as a physician in adolescent psychiatry, adolescent substance abuse services, and school health care.