Vähäaho-Kuusisto, Sirpa. Find Your Resources – Empowerment Group for the Unemployed. Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Oulu, Autumn 2013, 69 pages, 5 appendices.

Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Oulu, Autumn 2013. Degree Programme in Social Services, Option in Diaconal Social Work. Degree: Bachelor of Social Services.

The purpose on this functional thesis was to plan and execute empowerment group activity for the unemployed especially for the Parish of Karjasilta. The aim was that group members would acquire means to promote their empowerment, participation and health. Furthermore, group members provided each other with peer support.

The closed Find Your Resources – Empowerment Group for Unemployed met seven times in spring 2013. The group was planned and carried out during the process of making this thesis. A deaconess from the Parish of Karjasilta acted as a co-leader in the empowerment group. Themes in group meetings were for example culture as a resource, from loneliness into communication and spirituality as a resource. It was possible for group members to express themselves both verbally and through various functional methods.

The empowerment group was evaluated through group members' written and oral feedback and group leaders' self-evaluation. The empowerment group was successful, because group members gave feedback that they had found their resources with the help of various themes and peer support in the group.

A topic for further research will be to find out how it would be possible to reach more unemployed into activities arranged by the church.

Keywords: Diaconal work, empowerment, unemployment, group work