Gracie & the State of Mental Health in Japan
May 2024
Did you know that the mental health field is practically nonexistent in Japan? The country might have psychologists and neurologists, but it’s uncommon to find counselors and therapists who actually guide individuals through their mental health struggles.
“It’s a very shame-based culture, and they just don’t want to feel like they’re burdening others with their problems, because they view that as shameful,” Gracie says. “Their hope is in what they can achieve, instead of in Jesus. It’s really tragic, because many of them are living very hopeless lives.” Maybe that’s why some of our global workers are finding that Japanese people resonate with Ecclesiastes’s message that without God, “everything is meaningless.”
After graduating college with a degree in Psychology, Gracie worked at a Christian residential program where teens go to heal from past trauma. Many of the students who entered that program never received the support they needed growing up. Gracie says, “I could see just how lonely and sad their lives were, and that’s kind of what we’re looking at in Japan.”
After those students finally got plugged into a Christian community and experienced how much God loved them, Gracie saw their lives transform completely. She still volunteers there now, and says, “I continue to see their lives change through Christ because they have a safe place to receive encouragement and seek the Lord.”
God has gently been calling Gracie to Japan for years. In 2018, her college roommate told her about how high Japan’s suicide rates are, and how “normal” suicide is there. Then in 2019, someone she barely knew prophetically encouraged her to pray about serving in Japan. She says, “I can’t get it out of my mind. I feel like the Lord has just given me this desire that has stayed in my heart for the last several years. I just have to go and see what He’s doing.”
That’s why we’re excited that Gracie will be part of a team internship to Japan in the summer of 2024. During her trip, Gracie will visit three locations to shadow our global workers and help them love Japanese people. Please pray that the experience will be transformative for Gracie, her fellow interns, and the Japanese people they will interact with.
God has gently been calling Gracie to Japan for years. In 2018, her college roommate told her about how high Japan’s suicide rates are, and how “normal” suicide is there. Then in 2019, someone she barely knew prophetically encouraged her to pray about serving in Japan. She says, “I can’t get it out of my mind. I feel like the Lord has just given me this desire that has stayed in my heart for the last several years. I just have to go and see what He’s doing.”
That’s why we’re excited that Gracie will be part of a team internship to Japan in the summer of 2024. During her trip, Gracie will visit three locations to shadow our global workers and help them love Japanese people. Please pray that the experience will be transformative for Gracie, her fellow interns, and the Japanese people they will interact with.
More Stories
When Anna* was challenged to think about her goals for 2026, she sensed a clear nudge from God: begin preparing material to train others....
February 17, 2026
“In the 1980s, if you walked into a Christian bookstore in France, you’d find maybe two shelves of Christian books,” Florent...
February 13, 2026
As someone who’s spent much of his life planting churches in Asia, Ted now serves as the Director of Encompass...
February 10, 2026
Reaching the unreached is a beautiful idea, but it’s a lot easier said than done. Even so, Auburn Grace Community...
February 9, 2026
“I had no idea what Japan was,” Kya says. “Then my parents took me when I was 10, and now I wake up every day and think about...
January 30, 2026
Mika* grew up in Japan as part of a family that was culturally Buddhist, yet God gently placed people in her life who...
January 29, 2026
Grace Church in Simi Valley, California has been partnering with Encompass for over 60 years now, making us their primary missions agency. That...
January 23, 2026
The environment a child grows up in becomes their baseline for what’s normal. As you can imagine, children growing up overseas often form a...
January 23, 2026
“I never set out to become a crisis response person,” says Barb. In fact, if you had asked her younger...
January 21, 2026
