Abstract
This study investigated how care service restructuring under the new Services and Supports for Persons with Disabilities Act, enforced in 2006, has affected workshops for people with mental health problems. The author focused on 22 workshops in U ward, Tokyo, which have been instrumental in providing social and economic spaces for clients with mental disorders in the community. Qualitative evidence demonstrated the staff's response to the policy change and plans to deal with the transition to the new system required to be in place by the end of FY 2011. The study focused on the motivation of 22 clients for visiting to the workshops.
The results of the analysis are summarized as follows: 1) Sixteen workshops selected the support for continuous employment B type of support under the new system, which provides knowledge and skills for work. 2) This type provides the greatest benefits to service providers among others in the new system because no term limit is set for clients and no guaranteed minimum wage is required. 3) Five of the 16 workshops decided to transition to the nominal support for continuous employment B type of support because although they are basically opposed to the idea of providing employment assistance alone, they selected this type to ensure stable management conditions. 4) Municipal officials approve such practices even if the workshops do not provide the necessary training and knowledge for work. 5) Clients want workshops to be a “space of care, ” which is a socio-spatial field. This space is defined through the practices of care that occur between staff and clients, including having a nourishing lunch and taking a nap. The choice of the nominal support for continuous employment B type of assistance can be regarded as strategic resistance to the workfare policy change in order to sustain spaces of care.
