w eath Releases Survey Report on Self-Help Group Information Sharing in Medical Institutions and to Hold Online Briefing on June 17

General Incorporated Association w eath, an organization based in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture and led by Representative Director Masayo Shimomura, has released a survey report on how medical institutions provide information about self-help groups. The organization will hold a briefing session to share the findings more widely. Self-help groups are groups operated by people who share common difficulties or life challenges. They cover a wide range of fields, including illness, disability, addiction, school refusal, social withdrawal, parenting, caregiving, and sexual minorities, and may support both individuals and their families. The survey, titled “Survey on the Provision of Information on Self-Help Groups in Medical Institutions,” was conducted from December 22, 2025 to April 17, 2026 through interviews with 18 social workers who have experience working in medical institutions and 9 people who operate self-help groups. Key findings show that information sharing about self-help groups in medical institutions is mainly carried out as individual practice by social workers. Two major challenges were identified: the priority of such work within daily operations and uncertainty around the information itself. The survey also found that outreach by self-help groups to medical institutions involves psychological, time, and financial burdens. The survey briefing, titled “Briefing Session on the Survey on the Provision of Information on Self-Help Groups in Medical Institutions,” will be held online via Zoom on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:10 p.m., with the room opening at 6:55 p.m. Participation is free, and registration is available through Peatix until 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 15, 2026. Hokuto Yokoyama, Representative Director of NPO Social Cha ge Age cy, will join as a guest. Yokoyama commented that the survey is significant because it carefully reveals, through the voices of both sides, how much information sharing about self-help groups in medical institutions depends on the discretion and commitment of individual social workers. He noted that self-help groups represent another issue of access to systems, where experiential knowledge with value equal to professional expertise is not yet sufficiently used in medical settings, creating a major loss in the quality of support. Masayo Shimomura, Representative Director of w eath, said the organization operates a platform for self-help groups and also conducts research and information sharing related to them. She expressed hope that the briefing will become an opportunity to share the findings broadly and to consider how to build systems that allow people to connect with self-help groups when they need them. General Incorporated Association w eath works toward a society where people can feel they are not alone. Established on April 8, 2024, the organization is located at Casa Bella International Plaza Building Room 707, 1-1-18 Isobedori, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, and operates a platform for self-help groups among other activities.