Momoko Asaka: The Path to Establishing a Counseling Culture

After graduating from university, I happened to enter the IT industry. At the company where I worked in HR before starting my own business, I saw many people suffering from mental health issues. Even when there were signs of poor health, early intervention was often not possible, frequently forcing people into long-term leave or resignation. While continuing my career in the IT industry, I felt a strong need for counseling and obtained a counselor certification.

After obtaining my certification, I utilized it to provide career counseling to many of our employees. However, I gradually began to feel that I wanted to face employees of various companies as an independent third party rather than as someone inside the organization. I felt that from the position of a company's HR representative or counselor, some people might not be able to speak their true feelings due to concerns about their evaluations or might feel psychologically hesitant. With the wish to "create a world where IT engineers can continue to work energetically while maintaining their mental health," I established Verite Works Co., Ltd. in 2014, which provides IT system development and counseling services.

I have connections with overseas counselors through events such as the annual conference of the Asia Pacific Career Development Association, where I currently serve as a director. I still feel that counseling culture has not permeated Japan as much as it has in other countries. Noticing a social trend where consulting a third party is seen as "something weak people do," I continue my activities with the goal of "making it natural to receive counseling on a regular basis." Notably, out of a desire to lower the barrier to counseling, I have an initiative that uses episodes from characters like "Snoopy" from the American comic "PEANUTS"—of which I have been a huge fan since childhood and have researched independently for over 20 years. This work was featured on NHK's "Ohayo Nippon."

In January last year, I published a book titled "Creating a Company Where IT Engineers Don't Get Sick: A Mental Health Management Manual," which summarizes my internal and external practices since the company's founding. I was happy to fulfill the dream of publishing that I had since I was a student majoring in Library and Information Science. Although I am still halfway there, I want to continue moving forward, in my own small way, so that a culture where "counseling is something taken regularly" and "because it is taken regularly, one can work with high productivity" takes root in Japan.