Rotary International 2530D district community service mmittee

Fukushima RC Donates Cars with View to Establishment of Mental Health Center for Children

In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), evacuees faced further distress unique to Fukushima Prefecture, including the division of families due to disaster-related deaths and compensation for the nuclear power station accident. The repercussions continue to plague and distort the minds of children. Of the three prefectures seriously affected by the disaster (Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi), only Fukushima Prefecture does not have a mental health center for children. For some time, therefore, Professor Hiroshi Ikushima, who teaches clinical psychology in the graduate school of Fukushima University, and others have, with grants from the central government, been offering counseling throughout the prefecture in preparation for the establishment of such a center. There are limits to the central government's budget and use of the grants, however,so these counseling activities are not proceeding as well as hoped. Understanding the plight of children, who are the key to Fukushima's future, and desiring to help them, Fukushima Rotarians sprang into action and donated cars to help the clinical psychologists provide counseling at the 160 junior and senior high schools in the prefecture.