Miyagi Mental Care Center to Close 14 Years after 2011 Disaster

Sendai, Miyagi Pref., Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–A northeastern Japan facility that has provided mental care for about 14 years to people affected by the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami is set to finish its services at the end of this month. The Miyagi Disaster Mental Health Care Center, located in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, part of the areas afflicted by the disaster, had offered consultations for about 63,000 cases by early this month. After its closure, local governments in the prefecture will provide the services. The center was opened by the Miyagi prefectural government in December 2011, and its regional bases were launched in the Miyagi cities of Ishinomaki and Kesennuma in April 2012. At one point, a total of as many as about 50 psychiatrists, mental health social workers and others provided support to affected victims at the three facilities. “It was all a process of trial and error,” Yuichi Watanabe, 55, deputy chief of the center, said, noting that there were very many issues over its operations when it was opened, such as how to recruit personnel and how to inform local people of its services. Before opening the center, Watanabe visited a mental care facility set up in Kobe in response to the January 1995 major earthquake that struck the western Japan city and surrounding areas and another launched in the central Japan city of Niigata following the October 2004 strong temblor that hit central areas of Niigata Prefecture. Watanabe said that through the visits, he was finally able to grasp an image of what working at the center would be like. Initially, many people who visited the Miyagi consultation center had problems such as a lack of housing or employment. Later, more and more people came for help over issues including domestic violence, alcoholism and social withdrawal. The center in Sendai was originally scheduled to close in fiscal 2020. As the number of consultations per year stood at about 6,000 as of fiscal 2019, however, the Miyagi government in fiscal 2020 decided to keep it open to offer the mental care services until fiscal 2025. Following the prefectural government’s decision to finish the center’s project at the end of this month, local governments began preparations to take over the services, such as by having their employees accompany public health nurses and others for consultations at home. “Our center is only an emergency facility,” Watanabe said. “We shouldn’t be the ones to continue offering the services,” he said, adding that the mental care support project should be carried out “under the intended framework, such as municipalities increasing related staff and the prefectural government providing backing.” The center plans to post on its website materials such as the know-how it acquired through the project so that local governments can use them for reference. “We had a tough time when we established the center,” Watanabe said. “We want local governments to make use of our materials and knowledge as much as possible,” he said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]