Yuki Kai
Consultation Support Specialist
Consultation Support Office: Community House Ashita
Social Welfare Corporation Kikuaikai

１. About Social Welfare Corporation Kikuaikai

The corporation was established in 1981, and then in 1982, it opened Warabi Gakuen, a rehabilitation facility for people with intellectual disabilities. Currently, we are developing services according to life stages from infancy to old age, mainly in Kikuchi City. As a pioneer in this field, we have shown initiative in the way we do things. For instance, for the first time in Japan, we have engaged in Continuous Employment Support (Type A）in the hotel industry. We also conducted short-term admissions and started to provide services by admitting persons with disabilities and allowing them to stay with us for a short time, which eventually developed into an after-school daycare service center.

２. Overview of Kikuchi City

Kikuchi City is located in the northeastern part of Kumamoto Prefecture. It is an area surrounded by rich nature with mountain forests stretching from Mt. Yahogatake in the north to Mt. Kuradake on the outer rim of Mt. Aso in the east, with the headwaters of the clear Kikuchi River that forms the Kikuchi Gorge, forming fertile land around the Kikuchi Plain.

The city has a long history. During the period of the Nanbokucho (Northern and Southern Courts) Period, the Kikuchi clan was based in Waifu and became a major power of the Southern Court in central and northern Kyushu. Even now, many ruins remain in various parts of the city. Known as a granary during the Edo Period, Kikuchi’s rice was considered to be of the highest quality and was used as a standard for determining the price of rice at the time. Thus, the city has developed as a commercial city as a distribution center for high-quality rice.

The population is 47,153 (as of the end of November 2022). The rate of the elderly population is 34%. Depopulation and aging are progressing in this city, and there are concerns about the declining birthrate, aging population, and population decline in the future. In mountainous areas, there is no bus service, and, therefore, people who do not own a car are compelled to use taxis or shared taxis. Even if you wish to use welfare transportation services, there is a problem of not being able to use them if your place is out of the designated coverage areas.

３. Establishment of a Community Life Support Center in Kikuchi City

Relative to the establishment of a community life support center, the Kikuchi City’s 5th Plan for the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities states that the establishment of a community life support center is a priority. After deliberations on the direction of the establishment in line with the guidelines indicated by the government, in March 2018, Kikuchi City requested the Social Welfare Corporation Kikuaikai (hereinafter referred to as the “corporation”) to create a community life support center (also a multifunctional center).

（1）Consultation Support

Community House Ashita, operated by the corporation, plays the role of consultation support.

The features of the consultation support office are: consultation on planning and coordination, consultation on children with disabilities, support for transition to community life and in case of emergencies, designation of independent living assistance, and consultation for people with disabilities (commissioned by the Kikuchi City Abuse Prevention Center for Persons with Disabilities). We have a 24-hour, 365-day system that is required of a community life support center.

In the consultation support office, which is usually the first step, seven consultation support specialists collaborate with one another by using tools, such as LINE, so that the necessary communication can be done smoothly in case of emergencies.

（2）Providing opportunities and venues for experience

A considerable number of people who have never used welfare services for persons with disabilities--especially many of the elderly parents, who have been supporting their children by themselves for a long time without ever using the services--are reluctant to use them. Moreover, there are many parents who use welfare services for children with disabilities at home, thinking that they are able to care for their children while they are healthy. Currently, we have not been able to win their understanding that they must prepare in advance for the loss of parents which will surely come someday. I would thus like to find a good approach in cooperating with the community and the government to seek the understanding of persons with disabilities or their parents about this delicate matter.

（3）Admission to welfare facilities in case of an emergency

In case of an emergency when it is necessary to resort to a short-term admission facility, there are three short-term admission facilities to choose from, namely, an institution, a nursing home for the elderly, and an inn—all operated by the corporation. They may choose any one of them according to their age and condition.

Even now, in order to prevent a COVID-19 infection in an emergency, it is still required to confirm a “negative” before using the short-term admission facility. However, antigen test kits are provided for free, thanks to Kikuchi City.

At this stage, we do not have a pre-registration system for short-term admissions. However, those who think they require a short-term admission in an emergency and have not yet been categorized in any disability support classification or have not received a decision on the provision for short-term admission, as long as you have proof of disability (such as a certificate handbook for persons with disabilities), you may use the facility according to the standards created by Kikuchi City at the community life support center.

4）Securing and training professional human resources

As for securing professional human resources and creating its system, we have been designated by Kumamoto Prefectural Government to conduct staff training for persons with severe behavioral disorders. We conduct training by assigning human resources to develop their professional skills, both inside and outside the corporation. In addition, as part of the efforts of the Kikuchi City Abuse Prevention Center for Persons with Disabilities, a training program is held annually for the welfare facility staff of the two cities and two towns in the Kikuchi area (Kikuchi City, Koshi City, Ozu Town, and Kikuyo Town). Last year, a high-quality training session was held by inviting a lecturer who was a former abuse prevention specialist in the Welfare Division for Persons with Disabilities under the Department of Health and Welfare for Persons with Disabilities of the Social Welfare and War Victims’ Relief Bureau under the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

（5）Building a community system

Opportunities to collaborate with multi-professionals outside of the field of disability are increasing. What is particularly serious is the increasing number of consultations on the difficulties in living among the young and elderly people, regardless of whether they have disabilities or not. In cases where assistance cannot be provided by the Social Welfare Council or the Independence Support Project for the Needy, we provide support mainly for food, clothing and shelter in the rescue project for people with financial difficulties, which is being implemented as a contribution offered by the Kumamoto Prefecture Social Welfare Corporation Management Council. (However, the utilization of existing social resources is top priority, and the contribution is given to those who have a clear outlook for future income.)

４. Current issues

Currently, the community life support center is hardly known to other corporations. We believe that further efforts are necessary to expand the network. For the enhancement and strengthening of the five functions of the community life support center (consultation, providing opportunities and venues for experience, admission to welfare facilities in case of an emergency, building a community system, etc.), we believe that there is a limit to the multifunctional center operated by a single corporation. Rather, it is necessary to work with other corporations having various roles and to establish a system of working together comprehensively. We can also create a system of combining multifunctional and comprehensive types of centers to strengthen functions. However, we are keenly aware of the difficulty in requesting any corporation for support and obtaining cooperation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. At this stage, there is no prospect of how we can strengthen the system in the future. Furthermore, a core consultation support center has not yet been established. As for short-term admission facilities in emergencies, there are no facilities that can accept persons requiring constant medical care. In this situation, we have to rely on medical institutions. Therefore, we would like to ask for cooperation from formal healthcare providers that have nurses stationed 24 hours a day or from facilities outside Kikuchi City with both the cooperation of the public and private sectors.

In closing, I would like to ask ourselves as a team what we want from the community so that people with disabilities can continue to live in the community with peace of mind, as well as ask ourselves what we in the community life support center must do. We would like to continue to focus on these issues in determining the needs of the community.

Consultation Support Office: Community House Ashita, which is responsible for consultation

Seiryuso, an inn serving as a short-term admission facility, which is rare in Japan