岡 知史

This chapter explores a type of formal volunteering, carried out in groups, by peers who share a problematic health, economic, or social condition or situation. Peers meet together in self-help/mutual aid groups (SH/MAGs) to alleviate or improve their own circumstances. Of particular importance are the reciprocal social relationships in these groups — active participants both give and receive support. The chapter traces the broad history of SH/MAGs, reflecting similarities and differences in the co-authors’ regions of the world. The benefits that accrue to people active in SH/MAGs are highlighted at a personal, collective, and community level. The authors explore how self-help/mutual aid is enabled, given the challenges currently facing this form of volunteering, including global economic austerity and the dominance of professional and paternalistic modes of help.

“Making Peace with Grief through Indigenous Wisdom.” (Tomofumi Oka, 2016) In N. Hinerman & M. R. Sanders (Eds.), Care, Loss, and the End of Life (pp. 127-137). Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press.

“Survivor Spirituality versus Popular-Therapeutic Spirituality: Two Conflicting Approaches to Supporting Japanese Family Survivors of Suicide.” (Tomofumi Oka, 2016) Pp. 131-42 in Spirituality: An Interdisciplinary View, edited by Jennifer Mata-McMahon, Tihana Kovač, and Grace Miller. Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press

“Spirituality and Japanese Self-Help Groups for Alcoholics: Zen Buddhism for Abstinence.” (Tomofumi Oka and Richard Chehnall, 2015) Pp. 197-212 in Understanding New Perspectives of Spirituality, edited by Edie Lanphar and Agata Wilczek. Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK: The Inter-Disciplinary Press.

Self-help groups for alcoholics in Japan: Models of “recovery”. (Richard Chenhall & Tomofumi Oka, 2014) Jeremy Breden, Stacey Steele, & Carolyn S. Stevens (Eds.), Internationalising Japan: Discourse and practice (pp. 125-141). New York: Routledge.

“Grief is Love”: Understanding grief through self-help groups organised by the family survivors of suicide (Tomofumi Oka, 2013). In A. A. Drautzburg & J. Oldfield (Eds.), Making sense of suffering: A collective attempt (pp. 75-86). Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press.