Legislation is a powerful instrument affecting all living beings, and if it is based on deficient knowledge, it could cause unintentional harm to those affected. The risk is especially high for those with very few means, due their social position or circumstances, to participate in the knowledge production that informs law drafting. We call them silent agents because others speak about them and for them. Thus, the project addresses the need to broaden the knowledge base of legislative drafting to include their perspectives. The analyses focus particularly on silent agents whose social position arouses morally charged tensions and dilemmas. The main data consist of legislative documents, interviews and documented encounters with interaction partners. In collaboration with them, the project will generate new working methods to facilitate the building of inclusive and transparent legislation that is socially and ethically sustainable and based on comprehensive knowledge.

Compromised mental health increases the risk for social exclusion in early adulthood, which emphasizes the role of intervening early for their risk factors. Our aim is to improve access to psychosocial interventions in educational, primary healthcare, and correctional settings in the young people. We have worked towards this goal by introducing and developing four research-based mental health interventions for young people in Finland and establishing their status. In the second term, we will study the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these interventions and their adaptation and systematic implementation in Finland. In addition, we will explore the link between inclusion and uptake of and engagement in mental health interventions, as well as functional operating models in these interventions. We have actively involved young people and professionals in the studies since the beginning of the project.