2011年9月30日金曜日

Tokyo Art Therapy

Art Therapy offers an efficient way of communicating with inner and outer world both verbally and non-verbally. It provides a way to explore your inner landscape through creative expression. A Weekly Art Therapy Group is now open on every Sunday from 12.00 to 15.00 p.m. This group is conducted mainly in English by Ms Haeyoung Jeong, a UK licensed Art Therapist, who is also fluent in French and speaks conversational Japanese. Anybody interested in self-expression and self-awareness through the making of images is all welcome. It is not important if you think you don’t know how to paint or draw. It is recommended that you make a commitment to about five consecutive sessions. This is to allow for development and enrichment of the process. You are also welcome to book for a try-out session. The five week art therapy group is structured to give you the opportunity to make work through which you can develop and challenge your ideas of self-expression through art. Each week new themes are introduced. This is followed by image making and thereafter voluntary sharing of images within the group. This leads to greater insignts into your artwork and a deeper understanding and exploration of yourself within a group process. More infomation about Ms Haeyoung Jeong and her approach to Art Therapy can be found by visiting her blog: DALHO by Art Therapist Haeyoung Jeong.

Dates & Times: Every Sunday from 12.00 to 15.00 p.m.

TCS Group : Weekly Art Therapy Group (Sunday sessions)

Place: TCS's(Tokyo Counseling Services)Counseling Center in Shimokitazawa, Setagayaku, Tokyo.

Tokyo Art Therapy

2011年9月18日日曜日

Red Cross Japan

You readers may also be interested to hear the six month assessment of President Konoe of the Japanese Red Cross Society in his "Six Months on from the Great East Japan Earthquake" as he reports on the triple disasters of the earthquake, .tsunami and the meltdown and radiation released from 3 of the 6 nuclear plants at the Fukushima Daiichi facility built on the coast:

International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Youtube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ifrc#p/u/6/slhi_RSEZsw

As he says, "we are only just at the beginning of it" here in Japan. Keep the support coming please.

Your readers may also like to see some other positive and realistic reports on the need for psychosocial support for the millions of survivors of these triple disasters, many of whom may well in time, require the legal assessment, diagnosis and treatment of PTSD, depression and other mental disorders Japan's 100,000 + licensed mental health care professionals in Japan:

Mental Psychological Care Japan Tsunami Earthquakehttp://bit.ly/n2DqfN via @addthis Nick Jones' article in International Red Cross Magazine

Mending Minds by Nick Jones (in English)
http://www.redcross.int/EN/mag/magazine2011_2/24-25.html

International Red Cross magazine reports on mental health professionals counseling therapy post Japan earthquakehttp://www.redcross.int/EN/mag/magazine2011_2/24-25.html

http://tokyocounseling.com/english/media/redcross.html

http://tokyocounseling.com/english/column/psychologistjapan.html
http://tokyocounseling.com/english/media/japanpsw.html


With kindest regards from Tokyo

Andrew

PTSD Japan Earthquake

It is important to note that in Japan only a Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour nationally licensed doctor/psychiatrist is allowed to diagnose and medically treat PTSD. If someone is diagnosed with PTSD then the medical treatment and prescription of medications to alleviate and treat PTSD can only be given by a psychiatrist or medical doctor.

2011年9月14日水曜日

PTSD Japan Earthquake

TCS's Director Andrew Grimes was interviewed on the topics of the need for psychosocial support, on the subject of PTSD, (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) mental health care and what we can expect to see over the coming years in Japan following the Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and nuclear disasters on 11/3/2011. Some of his comments, shown below, were featured in The Magazine of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent in the article "Mending Minds", written by Tokyo based journalist Nick Jones, and that was published in the English and translated into the French and Spanish editions of the International Red Cross Magazine. The article focuses on the need for psychosocial and culturally sensitive mental health care for the as yet uncounted hundreds of thousands of people who have suffered and continue to be exposed to the stress and traumatic consequences that continue to impact their health, their lives, their communities and their livlihoods in the wake of the East Japan Great Earthquake, the ensuing Tsunami and the meltdowns and explosion of three of the Fukishima Dai Ichi nuclear power plants. Mr Jones well researched article was written after he travelled through the East Japan (Touhoku) Region disaster area to the town of Ishinomaki. In the article he places careful emphasise on the need for careful and culturally appropriate psychosocial support and mental heatlh care for the people and communities that were have been so wounded by the disasters: "Understanding the importance of psychological care following disasters, the JRCS also organized and dispatched teams of psychosocial professionals to help those traumatized survivors. The first workers arrived at the Ishinomaki Red Cross Hospital three days after the earthquake. By the middle of May, there were 289 psychosocial workers offering care and support in the main affected areas. (In total, around 8,000 Red Cross staff in Japan, including doctors and nurses, have received psychosocial training.) In late April, JRCS nurse Mayumi Oguri arrived at the evacuation centre where Asano is living with another 300 local residents. (There were 1,800 people living in the same space for the first three weeks after the disaster.) Oguri is head of a three-person psychosocial support team from Nagoya that relieved another group of psychosocial support workers. Sitting on the traditional Japanese straw tatami mat-lined floor of the school gymnasium, she says her team assesses the mental state of the people at the centre by walking around and talking, listening and offering opportunities for more private, emotional discussions. They also watch for tell-tale signs of post-traumatic stress such as insomnia, flashbacks, irritability and seclusion."

The need for Psychosocial Support and Mental Health Treatment.
The article also highlights the need to, as far as is practical, maintain and support the survivors "... Psychologist Nana Wiedemann, head of IFRC’s Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support in Copenhagen, Denmark, says that assigning roles to survivors adds a sense of meaning to their situation, as does introducing some familiar elements of everyday life. “It would be very important to establish some kind of routine,” she explains. “Of course, this is not a normal situation, but things like cooking food, playing with the children, taking care of the elderly and being a part of defining what the group needs and how these needs can be met are important.” People typically wake up at the centre at around 05:30 each morning. Some head to work through the debris-strewn streets, littered with upturned cars and boats, while others return to their homes to salvage possessions or begin repairs. The Japanese government aims to relocate all evacuees to temporary housing by the end of August. Tokyo-based clinical psychologist Andrew Grimes says this will be an important step towards improving mental health. “Those living in evacuation shelters have added stresses in that they lack privacy,” he says. “So it may be harder to grieve and share their feelings and comfort each other fully.” The JRCS says it will continue its psychosocial activities until the end of June before deciding if its teams still need to be deployed. Even after evacuees move into temporary housing, Oguri says it’s vital that they continue to be monitored and provided with follow-up health and mental care. Clinical psychologist Grimes agrees: “A rise in the number of people in the disaster zone suffering from depression and alcohol abuse may well be seen in time.” As for Asano, she doesn’t know yet if she’ll return to live in her home as she worries about the future threat of tsunami. For now, she remains focused on helping others at the centre slowly piece together their lives. “Maybe I work hard because I don’t want to remember that day or have nightmares,” she says, before rushing off to organize the evening’s entertainment. ”. Please click here read the full online article in English, "Mending Minds" written by Nick Jones for the the International Red Cross magazine.

Psychosocial Mental Health Care Needs for East Japan Earthquake Survivors (1 | Share on LinkedIn

2011年9月1日木曜日

Couples Counseling Tokyo

Yasue Yoshiike has 30 years of experience as a mental health counselor - 14 years in Japan and 16 years in the United States - with couples counseling and marriage counseling as her main specialty. She moved back to Japan in 2008 from the United States. Counseling in both English and Japanese.

Marriage Counseling | Tokyo Counseling Services