Support for Transition into Community Life by Nozomi-no-sono, a Center for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Who Have Left Correctional Institutions

Takahiro Kobayashi, Director, and
Akemi Sarayama, Chief, Special Support Division, Life Support Department,
Nozomi-no-sono, The National Center for Persons with Severe Intellectual Disabilities

1.History of Endeavors

Since its establishment in 1971, Nozomi-no-sono (The National Center for Persons with Severe Intellectual Disabilities) has accepted people with intellectual disabilities from all over the country with the role of providing their final residence.   Since the organization became an independent administrative institution in 2003, efforts for the residents’ transition towards community life have been promoted.  In 2008, our new role of accepting people who are difficult to support, including people with behavioral disabilities, began for a limited time.  Soon after, we started to accept them for a limited time as our way of giving support to those who had left institutions and now live in communities.

For 14 years since we began to support persons with intellectual disabilities who had left correctional institutions, 55 users have been accepted from prisons and juvenile training schools, while 49 of them have been discharged to start living in the community.  Accepting such persons as residents at the Nozomi-no-sono is a limited-term initiative with a period of two years or less, as it is a form of support on the premise that they must shift to community life.  Among those who have left, nine persons have re-offended.  It was judged that two of them would qualify for support again at Nozomi-no-sono, and thus we have helped them shift to community life.  More than half of the target beneficiaries are in group homes, and others are in apartments, residential care facilities, homes, and similar places.

In this initiative, which is premised on transition to community life, a support team for each individual is created before accepting him/her, and each team member is assigned a role.  Specifically, the local government (disability-related section) in the place where the support is given, the community life settlement support center, probation offices and volunteer probation officers in the case of consultation, persons on parole and juvenile cases, and Nozomi-no-sono are regularly assigned to each beneficiary.  We are making efforts to secure a place for them to stay in, while assessing the situation and identifying the issues.

2.Important Things When Providing Support

Many people with intellectual disabilities who have left the correctional institution and now using Nozomi-no-sono have been abused.  Quite a few of them have experienced neglect and financial abuse, as well as physical and sexual abuse.  These experiences are considered to have negatively impacted their interpersonal relationships with others.

While providing support, at times it is difficult to understand the behavior of the beneficiary, so your relationship with the person may not go well.  In such cases, instead of blaming the person or insisting on the same instruction/guidance for him/her, we first try to look at things from the perspective of “what is happening to him/her?”  At the same time, keeping in mind the effects of traumatic experiences (psychological trauma), we conduct “trauma-informed care” as a particular way to build safe relationships.

Through this kind of support, we try to understand how past experiences affect current behavior and aim to determine future behavior that is positive and optimistic.  We hope that in the end, they will behave responsibly and lead a better life without falling back into past patterns of behavior.

3.Specific Support

There are three major stages of support for people with intellectual disabilities who have left the correctional institutions and are now in Nozomi-no-sono.  The first stage provides intensive support, the second stage provides support for stabilizing daily life, and the third stage provides support by reducing intervention to prepare for community life.  When they first enter Nozomi-no-sono, their conditions tend to be unstable.  One reason for the instability is change in the living environment.  In order to alleviate the anxiety, we conduct an orientation by using “self-introduction cards” made of photographs to introduce “the kind of place Nozomi-no-sono is,” “the kinds of people (staff/users) there,” “the kind of life they will lead,” and so on.  We advise them to consult with us for any difficulties they might encounter.  When we know that they will encounter a difficulty in adapting to change, we may adjust the degree of support.  As they grow accustomed to the new life, we can gradually incorporate new kinds of support and help them prepare for transition to community life.

The main support programs we provide are social life program, psychoeducation program, individual task work, meetings, etc.  The social life program is conducted at the time of admission, and we collect information on their lifestyles up to the present, how they are recognized in social life, and aspects of their behavior based on the stories they reveal.

The psychoeducation program is conducted in a group work format.  The program aims to let them acquire knowledge and ideas by listening to the opinions of others, thereby leading to their inner transformation.  We select themes from the individual needs of users and other matters that come up during discussions.

For the individual task work, tasks are set according to the individual capabilities.  Then, the assessment is done by checking their concentration and capabilities to accomplish their tasks. 

In addition, keeping their future employment in mind, we also conduct work training, such as conducting employment assessments according to their abilities and characteristics based on their work experiences under the Support for Continuous Employment Project (Type B) that is available in Nozomi-no-sono.

Every day after dinner, a meeting is done to review their day, while trying to resolve issues in daily life.

Photo

Photo: Psychoeducation Program

As we consider individuality when we proceed with giving these kinds of support, we take care not to exercise too much control and monitoring caused by our fear of exposing them to risk.

So that they can adapt to changes from being in a residential care facility to living in the community with a high degree of freedom, we try to support them in their decision-making by maintaining a good balance between “what is not the right thing to do” and “what is the right thing to do.”

4.Current Status and Challenges in the Area of Consultation and Support

In recent years, there is an increasing number of consultation cases where collaboration with medical care specialists is essential, as difficult cases such as developmental disabilities, attachment disorders, and other complex mental disorders have surged.  It is difficult to provide support to those with complex disabilities and different developmental histories.  Supporting those who have left correctional institutions with diverse and complex needs is so difficult that we can see many people providing support who feel responsible for the re-offenses of the persons they handle, and are thus emotionally burdened by their various behaviors.  Therefore, care for those providing support has become an urgent issue.

In light of this situation, we in Nozomi-no-sono have started to strengthen our skill support system, in addition to traditional peer counseling and consultation with superiors.  We hold regular interviews with all those providing support.  I hope that they will be able to work as a team, face their feelings and thoughts, and build non-discriminatory relationships.

5.Future Development

The situation of criminals with intellectual disabilities nationwide has improved significantly in the last 10 years, and the understanding of their issues has broadened.  Nozomi-no-sono will continue to accept people with intellectual disabilities who have left correctional institutions and seek out ideal ways to support them, while actively disseminating information that is effective enough to gain more support and train human resources.  I hope to increase the number of places where we can continue providing support, as well as increase the number of people who can join us in providing this support.

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