A general incorporated association, Youth Mental Health Council SODA, which was established by the Department of Neuropsychiatry at Toho University Faculty of Medicine, has been entrusted the Early Consultation and Support Project for Young People from Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture

A research group led by Prof. Takahiro Nemoto of the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Toho University Faculty of Medicine, has been managing a youth one-stop consultation center in Adachi-ku, Tokyo, in collaboration with Tokyo Adachi Hospital, as part of Health and Labour Sciences Research named MEICIS. In September 2021, the Youth Mental Health Council SODA, which is a general incorporated association, was established by members of the MEICIS to promote and develop further early consultation and support services using the research results.
Last February, Kawaguchi City in Saitama Prefecture called for proposals for the “Early Consultation and Support Project for Young People,” and the SODA has just been entrusted for this project. Toho University has been working hard to initiate industry-academia-government collaborations and this entrustment is in line with that policy.

One fifth of general population experience a mental illness in their lifetime and it results in a severe social loss. Early intervention to prevent mental illness and help patients achieve full recovery is essential, especially for young people. It is known that three fourth of all mental illnesses occur before age 25. However, there are still severe barriers for young people with mental health problems to visit mental health institutions, even in urban areas where medical service is abundant. In particular, it is essential to provide a comprehensive and continuous care in the mild stage of mental health problems not to lead to a full-blown mental illness. Therefore, the MEICIS opened the one-stop consultation center near Kita-senju Station in Adachi City in 2019, in collaboration with Tokyo Adachi Hospital. This location is easy to access psychologically as well as practically in young people who usually hesitate to connect with such services. This service has often been featured in the media

Under such trends, the Kawaguchi City Youth Consultation Center SODA (provisional name) is about to be opened at AEON Mall Kawaguchi Maekawa where many young people visit (steering committee members: Drs. Takashi Uchino, Naoyuki Katagiri, Takahiro Nemoto, and Eriko Fukui of the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Toho University Faculty of Medicine). In addition to face-to-face consultations, online consultations are also planned. This service is the first attempt by the local government in Japan.

“MEICIS Mental Consultation Room” website URL: https://sodan.meicis.jp/

“SODA” Support with One-stop care on Demand for Adolescents and young adults in Adachi website URL: https://soda.tokyoadachi.com/