Tomofumi Oka

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.

ABSTRACT: Stigma associated with alcoholism is common in Japan, and individuals who suffer from alcoholism often feel that it is a taboo to discuss their problems with alcohol in the general public. This paper describes the way in which the self-help group called Danshukai offers a model for recovery for people suffering from alcoholism in Japan. Since 2006, the authors have been involved in various meetings and conducted conversational and semi-structured interviews with leaders and rank-and-file members of Danshukai. In Danshukai, recovery is viewed as a spiritual process offering the potential for a new life compared to models offered by medical treatment that place little emphasis on the role of spirituality in recovery. While medical models seek to reduce alcohol-related stigma by viewing it as a treatable ‘disease’, rather than a personality weakness, Danshukai encourages members to embrace their identity as a Danshukai member and to engage with a ‘way of abstinence’ that includes a lifelong commitment to Danshukai activities and helping others with similar problems.

“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.