Health and Global Policy Institute’s (HGPI) Mental Health Policy Project held the first expert committee meeting of its initiative called “Assessing the State of and Examining future approaches to Mental Health and Welfare Support Systems at Local Governments,” which is being conducted as part of the FY2021 Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Project for the Promotion of Comprehensive Welfare for Persons with Disabilities.

Each local government has a significant role to play in providing communities with disaster mental health support. Some local governments are even taking leadership in planning support systems, such as by creating guidelines for dispatching and onboarding Disaster Psychiatric Assistance Teams (DPATs) immediately after disasters. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that community support plans are still insufficient with regards to collaboration involving parties like DPATs, core hospitals for disaster mental health care, mental health care centers, and mental health and welfare centers. This may be one reason for support disparities among regions.

Through activities like conducting surveys of local governments and holding expert meetings, this project will examine current initiatives and identify more effective support provision methods with the goal of creating fundamental reference materials for all local governments to use when formulating measures for disaster mental health and welfare.

■Expert Committee Members (In no particular order; titles omitted)

Yasuhiro Obata (Secretary-general, The National Federation of Associations of Families with The Mental Illness in Japan (Minna-net); Member, Advisory Board, HGPI Mental Health Policy Project)
Shigenobu Kanba (Counselor and Former Director, The Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology; Member, Advisory Board, HGPI Mental Health Policy Project
Yoshiharu Kim (Director, National Institute of Mental Health; Member, Advisory Board, HGPI Mental Health Policy Project)
Natsuko Hagiwara (Professor, Graduate School of Social Design Studies, Rikkyo University; Chairperson, Japan NPO Center (JNPOC); Member, Advisory Board, HGPI Mental Health Policy Project)
Tetsushi Tsujimoto (Chairman, Japanese Association of National Mental Health and Welfare Center Directors)
Koji Kiwaki (Member, Japanese Association of Public Health Center Directors (Yatsushiro Public Health Center, Yatsushiro Welfare Office, Kumamoto Prefecture))
Hiroaki Tomita (Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University; Member, Advisory Board, HGPI Mental Health Policy Project)
Nahoko Harada (Professor, Department of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Miyazaki)
Eri Ariga (Researcher, Ibaraki Prefectural Local Government Research Center)
Hirokazu Tachikawa (Professor, Disaster and Community Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba)
Keigo Kobayashi (Employee at a private corporation; Person living with a mental disorder)
Tetsuji Tsukamoto (Department Director, Saitama Prefectural Psychiatric Center, Saitama Prefectural Hospital Organization)