Healing Japan

JISP continues to support disaster victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. On Oct 29^th, JISP in collaboration with Ms Ohtaki, a psychotherapist conducted a communication improvement workshop for Izumi staff in the Tohoku Region. Izumi is a Christian organization that provides thyroid gland checkups for children once a month in Miyagi and Fukushima. These children are taken for tests by their parents to check for any radiation effects due to the nuclear explosion in Fukushima. Ohtaki observed these checkup sessions and found that many of the staff did not know how to handle the stress and panic of parents and children as they underwent the checkups and counseling sessions. Therefore, the workshops focused on improving communication between the staff, the children and the guardians that implement and undergo the checkups. We simulated these checkups and other occasions where the parents or children would express anxiety (during counseling sessions etc) and the participants learned about the ways to deal with the stress of the kids, the guardians as well as their own. One of the participants commented “I learned how to put myself in another person’s shoes”

 At the end of the workshop, we held a short yoga session- to emphasize that above all, it is the care for the supporters themselves which is crucial to guarantee the continuous impact of their work.