This activity-based thesis describes the staff training of the home help services in Riihimäki which aimed to enhance a client oriented and rehabilitative approach to work. This thesis was conducted as part of developing the home help services in the city of Riihimäki. This is a developmental study, which applied a method called 'Future Workshop' (Tulevaisuusverstas), along with other activity-based methods. The training of the employees was implemented through workshops. The research material was collected during workshops carried out with the employees of the home help service during the spring and autumn of 2013. This thesis provides a model for development of the home help services in other towns as well.

The aim of the thesis was to examine the present state of client oriented and rehabilitative approaches to work, and to provide information on the ways the employees can develop client oriented and rehabilitative approaches in their own work. The aim of the training workshops was to increase employees’ knowledge of client oriented and rehabilitative approaches to work.

Areas requiring development were identified during the research process. The topics that emerged from the 'Future Workshop' sessions conducted in the spring were processed in the workshops in the autumn. The workshops revealed that the concept of rehabilitative approach to work was more familiar to the employees than the client oriented approach. Adaptation to a client oriented approach to work requires further development. Currently, the staff often applies an employee-oriented approach. Based on the material obtained from the 'Future Workshop' sessions, the reasons the employees highlighted most often as preventing them from implementing a client oriented and rehabilitative approach were busyness and shortage of staff. The workshops aimed to find solutions for overcoming the obstacles.