Sep, 2024

Counseling Case
ExampleDear employees,

Edit and Issue

HOKENDOHJIN-FRONTIER, Inc.
Human Frontier Counseling Center
4F Aoyama 1-Chome Tower, 1-3-3,
Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
107-0062, Japan
Tel: 03-6747-6250

We offer psychological counseling via in-person meeting, telephone and email. Pleasefeel free to call us at our toll-free number 0120-783-744 for an appointment. The number
can be reached by mobile phones. It is our hope that our counseling service could insome way, however small, contribute to your well-being and productivity.

Schedule a counseling appointment

０１２０－７８３－７４４
Office hours:(excluding holidays)

Monday through Friday１０：００～２０：００
Saturday

10：00～18：００

E-mail :sodan@humanfrontier.co.jp※In case you would like to know more about our counseling service before you make an initial contact,
we present a typical case example below in the hope that it’d give you a glimpse into our consultation
room. The following case is fictional based roughly on several real cases. The client’s identity isintentionally disguised.

※We will reply to you within two business days
after receiving your message.

Ms. B always worries about what others might
think of her

Case１©2016, 2024 HOKENDOHJIN-FRONTIER Inc.

Client: Ms. B, in her 30s, office worker
Background：
Ms. B often worries about how others think of her and tends to be hyper-sensitive to their attitude to her. Whenshe feels someone is irritated or behaving differently from usual manner, she gets concerned and worries if she
did something wrong to the person. Even after she returned to her home from work, she cannot shake off thethoughts, mulling it over and over in her mind. Her imagination got wild and made her feel so depressed that
she is now reluctant to go to work. She thought her condition was serious and gathered her courage to seek
consultation with our counseling room.

（Ｃｌ：Client, Ｃｏ: Counselor）

Initial Phase of Face-to-face Counseling:Ｃｌ： According to her story, it appeared that Ms. B had always been very concerned about what others thoughtof her. She often feels exhausted from worrying about other people’s attitudes. Lately, she often finds herself
dwelling on small matters thinking, “I shouldn’t have said things like that.” When I asked her to talk about a specificepisode, she said, “One of my colleagues, with whom I work closely, seems irritated lately.

I worry he might be angry at me. The current job is a good fit to me because I like to do things steadily little bylittle, but I feel so distressed and reluctant to go to work when I start to think of the colleague.”Co’s Intervention：

Ms. B’s diligent personality was evident in the way she tried hard to explain the current situation. Although she
found her work suited to her, she looked very tired worrying about the attitudes of the people around her. When I
asked more specific information about the irritable colleague, she replied, “I just feel that way,” and there was nosign that Ms. B had done anything wrong. I told her that when someone looks irritated or acts unusually, that is
because of their own issue in most cases. I advised her to consider herself separate from the others. Furthermore,I proposed that she directly talk with the colleague because she cannot solve the matter by thinking all by herself.
I suggested a few phrases to start the conversation, such as, “It seems you are a bit off lately. Is there somethingwrong?”
Middle and Closing Phases of Face-to-face Counseling:

Cl： In the next session, Ms. B looked somewhat brighter. She explained, “Initially, I did not think of asking thecolleague directly what was bothering him, but you taught me how to approach him. So, I tried it when I foundhe was feeling down. He then talked about what was happening to him, namely, he was stressed because he had
to move due to the noise problem in his apartment. I had assumed that he was angry with me for some reason,
so I was surprised to learn the real reason behind it. I had always blamed myself for everything that went wrong.
I had been preoccupied with such concerns for a long time, and I realized that my worries had been probably
groundless.”
This incident has helped Ms. B improve her relationship with her colleague. Ms. B decided to interact with others
based on the assumption that she is not responsible for the others’ emotional states and behaviors.
Cl： In the following session, we continued to talked about communication issues. Ms. B talked about herfrustrations with interacting with younger people. She said, “Formerly, new employees were supposed to answer
the phone and handle miscellaneous tasks. But I am still doing these tasks, because younger people do not pay
attention to such matters. I feel uncomfortable to raise the issue now. Yet I feel unsettled and frustrated at theongoing situation.”
Co’s Intervention： When I asked Ms. B why she cannot ask the new employees to handle those tasks, she tooka few moments to collect her thoughts and replied, “Probably, I am afraid of being disliked by others.” I admitted
the feeling with empathy. Then, I mentioned that work allocation had nothing to do with favor or disfavor of people,
and that since the new employees might not be aware of all the miscellaneous tasks, it was a part of a senior
employee’s job to teach them. I suggested that she ask the new employees directly if they could take on thosetasks.
Cl：In the next session, Ms. B shared what had happened with a smile on her face, “I spoke with younger people
at work. Initially, it was difficult to raise the issue with them, but they simply accepted my request. It appears myconcern was due to my mistaken assumption. When I stopped picking up the phones, new employees started
taking over the task. I have not tried to understand the others so much as I worry how the others think of me. NowI fully understand that I would not be understood unless I voiced my thought, just as I would not know how others
think unless I asked them.”Ms. B used to worry all by herself. Now, she became able to clear the air in various situations by considering her
feelings separate from those of others when she interacts with them. She no longer considers to leave thecompany, and the session ended because she feels she can handle future challenges on her own.

How to Use Our Service

Type 1 Email counseling
Please email us the following items ❶ and ❷ and primaryissues by email. You can also use our website.

Type 2 Face to face counseling
Please make an appointment by either phone or email.

Type 3 Telephone counseling
When all counselors are occupied, a counselor will contact
you later at the earliest possible convenience.

Please provide us with following information
for making an appointment.
❶Name (anonymity is acceptable)❷Company name or registration number❸Brief description of the matterfor counseling❹Desired date and time of session❺Desired type of session□ Face to face (Tokyo/Osaka counselingoffice or any agreed location)□ By Microsoft Teams※The type of counseling you can choose
depends on your contract.

TEL: 0120-783-744
Monday ~ Friday 10:00 am to 8:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm* Excluding holidays

Mail: sodan@humanfrontier.co.jp* If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Furthermore, we manage personal information in accordance with the “Privacy Policy” that is shown in the following URL.
URL https://www.hokendohjin.co.jp/ja/privacy.html