Casey
@LifelineByNature

For years now, I've been living in Japan which has many unique benefits to life here - but with those benefits also come hardships, for many of the people living here.

Unfortunately, in Japan, mental health issues are not widely regarded nor treated. In a similar vein, despite my 6 years of education in the field and several years practical experience, I am unable to work in Japan as part of a healthcare provider due to the way in which Japan regards foreign qualifications.

I am, however, able to work as a mental health counsellor as this has no restrictions. Sadly this also means that unqualified people can act as counsellors, but in this instance it has created an opportunity for me to use the knowledge and skills I have without them going to waste.

It is my strong belief that people should not have to pay for healthcare, so I have been unable to start up anything as I also am unable to work for free on my current income.

I wanted to start this page as a "kindness of strangers" system: I don't ask a lot, even a dollar per month. Something you won't notice or miss even leaving your bank account. Something you can just pledge and forget about. If a lot of people were to do this, I could eventually begin offering counselling free of charge. If I really got set up, I could do it full time. This is my eventual end goal.

To clarify, I do not want people to donate to this who are hoping to use the service. I do not want to fund it as an insurance style system. I do not want the counselling to feel like a financial burden on the service user. Instead, I'm hoping tiny donations from a lot of people can help me to start counselling people in their hardest times, at no cost to them.

If you could help at all, it would mean a lot to me - and I hope, with the use of my skills and knowledge, it would mean a lot to the many people I seek to help as well.

Thank you for reading this far. I'm not very good with making pitches, but I hope my motivations and goals have been clear.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope your day is as stress-free as it can be.