The target groups of the project are students and students in general, as well as teaching and guidance staff, who are at risk of dropping out of the Finnish Deaconia College and Diakonia University of Applied Sciences. Main objective of the project: Reducing early school leaving by supporting students in a comprehensive and timely manner and by strengthening students’ mental health and life management skills. Sub-objectives: 1. Development of a support model for students at risk of dropping out2. Increasing mental health and life management skills and knowledge2.1. Increasing mental health and life management skills and knowledge of students and school professionals 2.2. In-depth knowledge and skills for school professionals on methods of promoting mental health and life management3. Development of peer-to-peer/mentor activities to support students’ ability to study, mental health and life management 4. Further development and piloting of a narrative method that promotes mental health and ability to study5. Dissemination of project resultsThe main result of the project is a comprehensive and timely support model for students at risk of dropping out. The support model reduces drop-outs and enables them to complete their studies despite different challenges. The key to the support model is the pedagogy of strengths, the strengthening of mental health and life management, the involvement of students and the solution-oriented approach. Students get tools to set goals and find concrete solutions from challenging situations. Experience in life management and the relevance of studies will be strengthened, the presence in the studies will increase and the number of approved achievements will increase. Cultural sensitivity is taken into account when designing the support model. Among Finnish as a second language, 13 % of students consider dropping out of study (4 %). Learning difficulties and financial concerns in other languages are more pronounced than Finnish-speaking students. With the help of the project modelled coaching, all students get tools to maintain their own ability to study and to cope with their studies. Educational institutions’ professionals have the knowledge and certainty to apply mental health and life management methods in their own work. Students are working on stories as part of a method that helps the main character of the story to face and solve the problems associated with various challenging life situations. The method allows students to better identify factors affecting their own mental health and life management, strengthen the reflexion of their own experiences and make it easier for them to ask for help. Peer-to-peer and mentoring activities are also systematically linked to support for learning ability and mental health. The Uusimaa programme 2.0 (2018-2021) aims to reduce health inequalities and address the factors causing inequalities, e.g. from the point of view of education. The project can create structures for educational institutions and studies to reduce inequalities.