Initiatives of the Japanese Association of Psychiatric Social Workers
Dispatching Short-Term Supporters to the Miyagi Disaster Mental Health Care Center
Japanese Association of Psychiatric Social Workers, a Public Service Corporation
Executive Director – Naoto Kita
1. History of Our Initiatives
In response to the Great East Japan Earthquake, the JAPSW began to conduct observations in
disaster-affected areas and establish contacts at the national, prefectural, and municipal levels;
through these relationships, in FY 2011, we were able to continuously dispatch JAPSW members tosupport mental health and welfare activities in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi and Minamisoma,
Fukushima.
In FY 2012, we had newly established the Great East Japan Earthquake Reconstruction SupportHeadquarters, and as we were exploring how to conduct new operations therein as a national-level
organization of psychiatric social workers; Yuichi Watanabe of the MDMHCC, an organization that
was already part of the planning of the Reconstruction Support Headquarters, approached us with theidea of dispatching JAPSW members to the Center as short-term temporary employees to assist withthe large volume of requests received from prefectural municipalities.
In response, we established a reconstruction support human resources bank in June of that year,
and after recruitment, we began dispatching staff to take part in support activities on July 2.
2. Actual Initiatives
In FY 2011, our support activities in disaster-affected areas were self-contained efforts such as
the procurement of lodging and vehicles for various activities. At the time, our work with the Center
consisted of submission of a list of members capable of participating in their activities; the creationof actual activity shift schedules, selection of municipalities to receive support, and procurement oflodging was entirely handled by the Center. However, because we recognized the critical importanceof pre-, intra-, and post-activity support for members taking part in support activities, theReconstruction Support Headquarters appointed a support supervisor, established a dedicated support
line, and set up a mailing list, all of which served as a means for participants to exchange informationand for the Reconstruction Support Headquarters to provide information to them.
The activities of dispatch members were limited to weekdays and rotated on a weekly basis.
Initially, the Stem Center in Sendai served as our base of operations, and we traveled to the places we
had received support requests from: Natori, Iwanuma, Matsushima, Higashimatsushima, Shiogama,Taiwa, and Onagawa, among others. From September 18, 2012 onward, because the Center managed
to procure a hotel inside the city of Ishinomaki for us to use, our de facto base of operations shifted
to Ishinomaki, and we began to serve as assistants to Center staff dispatched to Higashimatsushima
and/or Onagawa. Further, after negotiating with the Center, we determined that transportation fees insituations where the number of days of activity were low would be raised via JAPSW’sReconstruction Support Activity Fundraiser; one rental car was also procured for use as a means oftravel between Ishinomaki and places of activity.
The majority of dispatched members were psychiatric social workers who had participated in theJAPSW’s support efforts for disaster-affected areas the previous year; these individuals understood
the limitations of short-term support and acknowledged that their role was to assist and supplement
the work of Center staff. As the personnel recruitment activities of the Center were expected to secure
enough staff to manage their workload, the short-term supporter dispatch activities of the JAPSW
came to a close on December 28, 2012.

o Activity period: July 2–December 28, 2012
o Number of dispatched members: 28
o Total number of active days: 150- 87 -