Tsunami Relief and Recovery: How to Help Our Japanese Friends

The vast majority of the time, this blog serves as an educational tool and resource for you. But every once in a while, I ask that you “take action” for a cause or event.

This is one of those times.

Many of us have been watching the horrific events that have occurred in Japan over the past several weeks. I’d like to take this time to share an opportunity for you to help in the Japanese relief and recovery efforts.

This request is for music therapists who have experience and knowledge in music therapy “first aid.” If you are able to contribute towards the request below, PLEASE DO! This is not a request for money, but one for knowledge and information.

And at the least, if you can spread the message…that would be helpful and wonderful.

Dear members of AMTA,

I would like to thank you all of you for your thoughts and prayers for Japan. The biggest earthquake in Japan’s history brought us enomous tragedies. I appreciate your continuous support of us.

As I look into the future, there will definitely be a need for psychological support for those encountering difficult times. I would like to do as much as I can do now to prepare for that time. I wonder if you all could help me out to organize a handbook of music therapy for trauma/disaster care. If you have any experience in working with people who experienced some kind of traumatic events, natural disaster, etc, and if you are willing to give me consent to share your experience with the world, please send me the following in one page, letter size, word format. Music therapist Yumi Sato, myself, and other MT-BCs are going to translate it into Japanese and make the summaries available for other music therapists.

Please include in your one page summary:

• Type of trauma (i.e war, terrorist attack, natural disaster)
• Description of symptoms (i.e PTSD)
• How long after the traumatic event
• Age/Age range
• Setting?(Group/Individuals, #of clients, location)
• Goals
• Materials used
• Description of Experience (type of music therapy intervention, duration of therapy)
• Results/Outcomes
• Suggestions for future use

Thank you so much.
Nami Yoshihara, MS, MT-BC

Please send your case materials to Yumiko Sato at luluhana@hotmail.com.

If you would like more information about music therapy and Japanese relief and recovery efforts, please visit the American Music Therapy Association’s Emergency Response and Relief Efforts page, as well as this wonderfully informative page from Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.

Tagged as: Japan, relief, trauma