Hitotsubashi University Japanese Studies in English Lecture Series 2017

“Mental Illness - The Cost of Silence"
Speaker: Vickie Skorji (Director, TELL Lifeline)

http://www.soc.hit-u.ac.jp/glp/posts/2017-12-20171221lecture.html
Date: December 21, 2017 (Thursday
Time: 12:30-14:00
Venue: Mercury Hall
http://www.hit-u.ac.jp/eng/about/direction/guide/campus/e-campus/index.html

Abstract:
Every day, every 40 seconds a person takes their life somewhere in the world, and sadly, a young person every two minutes. In Japan, an estimated 1500 people attempt suicide every day and 59 die by suicide. Suicides accounted for close to 1.5% of all deaths worldwide in 2015, bringing it into the top 20 causes of death and the second leading cause of death among 15-29-year-olds globally. Behind these statistics are the individual stories of those who have, for many different reasons, questioned the value of their own lives.

But suicide is not an illness in itself, it is the outcome of an illness that is not being treated. For most people who die by suicide, they were struggling with a mental illness that was not being treated. This talk will discuss the cost of stigma in Japan and how changing our thoughts about mental illness can change someone’s life.

Speaker:
Mrs Vickie Skorji completed her Bachelor of Behavioral Sciences with honors from La Trobe University, Australia in 1995, and a Masters in Counseling from Monash University in Australia. She has specialist training in neuropsychology and Acquired Brain Injury in both hospital and rehabilitation settings. Prior to moving to Hong Kong & Tokyo she managed an Acquired Brain Injury Support Service in Australia, supporting families and individuals with a variety of neurological conditions such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke and migraine. She has developed and run carer education training courses, carer weekend retreats and published a resource book for carers of people with neurological conditions or Acquired Brain Injury. She has developed and given both workplace and community presentations on carer needs, stress management and stroke prevention. More recently her interests and presentations have included cultural adjustment, adolescent issues in Japan, work life balance and suicide prevention.

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デール・ソニヤ
Sonja Pei-Fen DALE
一橋大学社会学研究科　特任講師
Hitotsubashi University, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Adjunct Assistant Professor