October 20 & 21, 2011 : Workshop : Peer Counseling
The two-day worship on “Peer Counseling” was held on October 20th and 21st. The participants learned a new method to empower other disabled people as well as themselves. “Peer” means a fellow and a person who has the same experience as you. In this training course, the seven participants are “the peers” as they share having a disability.
Peer counseling usually takes place between two individuals. It involves listening to each other and disclosing emotions. But it is not about seeking (or giving) advice – in fact, participants sit and listen to each other on an equal basis. Everyone said during a counseling session must be kept confidential, so that a safe environment can be created.
Peer counseling started in the US in the 1970s, and was introduced to Japan in the 1980s. Peer Counseling in Japan comes from Co-counseling (also called Re-evaluation Counseling) that took place in the US. It is characterized by giving equal time and by exchanging each other's roles as indicated in the prefix “Co-.” Since Peer Counseling eventually became a mandatory government project, its importance became widely recognized and it spread throughout the country. It is now practiced at over 120 CIL Centers in Japan, as well as in other Asian countries such as Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Nepal, Mongolia, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
For many of the participants, it has been the first time to try peer counseling. However, they seemed to understand its purpose and mechanism fairly quickly, and appeared to enjoy conducting peer counseling sessions with each other.
