Help us help you

Tokyo English Life Line, the one-of-a-kind counseling agency in Tokyo, has been helping foreigners for 25 years. Daneeta L. Saft spoke with Carolyn Krol, Co-Director of Clinical Services, about the help they need.

Carolyn Krol of TELL

What' Tokyo English Life Line all about?
We are run by a professional board comprised of psychiatrists, psychologists, and business, educational, religious and community leaders. It is the closest thing to what most Westerners would call a major counseling or mental health center, offering a wide variety of counseling and prevention/educational services for the public. TELL is a non-profit agency, funded by both the international and corporate communities, and we depend on them for our continuation of services. TELL offers both 1) fee-for-service, professional, face-to-face psychotherapy through TELL Community Counseling Service (TCCS) and 2) free, confidential telephone counseling by trained volunteers through the Life Line.

TELL's programs are accredited, and there is the expected internal rigorous supervision of services for both the professional therapists and the telephone counselors. TELL also provides prevention/educational talks and workshops for schools, congregations and community organizations and can tailor a program for the particular needs of a group. TELL also actively works with the corporate community and provides counseling through Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) for employees for either their work-related or personal problems, and provides training and consultation for managers/supervisors for "people problems."

What kinds of positions are you looking to fill and what are the qualifications?
You can work for TELL in two ways in regards to the two major programs that we offer: one as a paid clinical therapist at TCCS and the other as a trained volunteer telephone counselor at the Life Line.

TCCS therapists must have a master or doctoral-level degree in one of the mental health counseling related fields-clinical, social work, marriage and family therapy, psychiatry, psychology, pastoral counseling, etc. The therapist must be licensed, certified, or be license-eligible and have at least minimal postgraduate experience.

The Life Line is our free telephone counseling service that is available 365 days a year, and is staffed by highly trained volunteer counselors to respond to requests for information and referral, general counseling problems and emergency calls. To become a Life Line telephone counselor, a person must speak English and be willing to make a major commitment to attending a rigorous three-month program, followed by an apprenticeship, before staffing the phone line. Continuous supervision, support and training are offered to phone counselors to insure a high quality of confidential and anonymous help and support to all callers.

Specific positions we are looking to fill are:

Tokyo English Life Line Co-Director of Clinical Services (part time). Requirements are a doctoral degree or equivalent in a mental health counseling-related field, licensed, extensive clinical, supervisory and management experience, and dynamic leadership and outreach skills. Contact Clinical Search Committee, TELL, 2-20-2 Tokiwadai, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 174-0071.

Licensed Pastoral Counselor and Licensed Child and Adolescent Therapist (see above requirements). Call TELL Community Counseling Service at 03-3968-4084 for more information on these positions.

Telephone Services Director (full time, paid). Trains, manages, and supervises the Life Line's team of volunteers. Contact Telephone Services Search Committee, TELL, 2-20-2 Tokiwadai, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 174-0071

Volunteer phone counselors. Contact 03-3968-4103 for information.

www.tell.gol.com