Staff writer
OSAKA -- Living in a foreign country, cut off from familiar social and cultural norms, dealing with a language that is not your own and attempting to fit in without losing your identity can cause serious mental stress in the most hardy of expatriates.
Until recently, most had nowhere to turn for professional care. But this past year, a group of professional mental health care providers, led by a Kansai-based American social therapist, formed Japan's first organization that provides professional counseling in English and several other languages.