精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker)

精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker) · 14日 9月 2025

The stagnation of family caregiving was one of the factors that led to the introduction of the long-term care insurance system, which was designed to provide social support for elderly care. However, as I increasingly recognize the various limitations of the current system, I have come to believe that we need to take a step back from the long-term care insurance framework and reexamine the fundamental nature of family caregiving. That is, I believe we need to reexamine the role of families,...

精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker) · 13日 9月 2025

This is a digression, but after that, I applied for part-time care work on several occasions. However, the national qualification of psychiatric social worker was rarely taken into consideration in the field of elderly care. I had pursued the qualification because I was concerned with how to help elderly people with dementia live happily in their communities. However, I got the impression that, in the field of elderly care, there was little demand for staff who approached care work from the...

精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker) · 12日 9月 2025

The results were announced on March 14, 2014 (Heisei 26). The required pass mark was 81 out of a possible 163, but I managed to score 101, which was a hard-earned achievement. I had specialized in the natural sciences up until that point and started with almost no knowledge of the welfare field. Therefore, even with that score, I believe I did well. All the hardships I had endured—such as submitting 30 reports for the general training course and completing dozens of days of internship—were...

精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker) · 11日 9月 2025

The national examination for certified psychiatric social workers that I took was held over two days—January 25 and 26, 2014 (Heisei 26). The exam held on the afternoon of January 25 covered six specialized subjects: (1) mental illness and its treatment, (2) mental health issues and support, (3) foundations of mental health and welfare consultation support, (4) theories of mental health and welfare and the development of consultation support, (5) systems and services related to mental health...

精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker) · 10日 9月 2025

National examination for certified psychiatric social workers Upon successfully completing the 1 year and 7-month general training course, we become eligible to take the national examination for certified psychiatric social workers. Ultimately, the challenges of this long and demanding training will only be truly meaningful if we pass the exam and earn the qualification. Of course, I gained a great deal from the mental health and welfare assistance internship and other activities, and I felt...

精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker) · 09日 9月 2025

What kind of society allows elderly people with dementia to live happily? This was the question I had when I began my general training course to become a psychiatric social worker. At the time, I had a vague idea that such a society might be one where local residents come together to support elderly people with dementia. However, based on my experience during this internship, if the reaction of most passengers on that bus—who directed their irritation at the client using a wheelchair while...

精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker) · 08日 9月 2025

Those enrolled in the general training course for psychiatric social workers were required to submit a report at the end of their mental health and welfare assistance internship. Since I had witnessed the irritation of other passengers directed at the client when we boarded a regular city bus, I wrote about that experience in my report. The full report was about two A4 pages long, but because it must remain confidential, I will share only a portion of it below. Through this internship, I was...

精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker) · 07日 9月 2025

Through this internship, I was able to clearly see that even something as simple as taking a bus is full of challenges for people with disabilities trying to live independently in the community. Traveling by wheelchair is difficult in itself, but beyond that, regular city buses must be properly equipped to accommodate wheelchair users, and drivers must be trained to operate that equipment correctly. In addition—and above all—I believe that the people around them, such as other passengers,...

精神保健福祉士 (Certified psychiatric social worker) · 06日 9月 2025

When a wheelchair user boards a bus, it also places a burden on the driver. The driver must first extend the wheelchair ramp and then operate the lift. The driver on our return trip did not seem familiar with assisting passengers in wheelchairs like him and appeared to struggle with properly extending and retracting the ramp. After stopping at the bus stop, the driver struggled for nearly 10 minutes. Eventually, the next bus caught up with us, and with help from that driver, we were finally...