Abstract
The Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) with a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale hit the Pacific coast of northeast Japan on March 11, 2011. The disaster caused tremendous damage and traumatized a large number of people, including thousands of children. While most of these children showed psychological symptoms of trauma, many could not receive appropriate care because of a lack of mental health professionals in rural areas. To cope with this situation, we held single-day camps, followed by continuous, culturally appropriate psychoeducation, facilitated for children who experienced the disaster. We explained how emotions are formed by picture story and did abdominal breathing using a blowing pipe in the psychoeducational session. The program of the camps should be set according to the recovery phase of their communities. Some of the participants, who had psychological symptoms due to the disasters, could receive appropriate treatment through the camps. It is possible that community bonding plays a vital role in community-wide mental health recovery, regardless of whether formal mental health resources exist or not.
