Integrating Culture into Corporate Mental Health: Supporting Japanese Expatriates and Their Families in the U.S.
Symposium | Hosted by World Association of Cultural Psychiatry & Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists
Ms. Haruka Kokaze spoke at the PRCP and WACP Joint Congress 2025 symposium, Global Perspectives on Mental Health Challenges and Resilience Among Migrant and Expatriate Populations. The session highlighted the complex interplay of social determinants, cultural contexts, and systemic frameworks shaping the mental health of expatriate populations across the United States, Canada, and countries throughout Asia. Her presentation focused on advancing corporate mental health strategies to better support Japanese expatriates, their families, and locally hired employees in the United States. She outlined the unique challenges faced by Japanese expatriate families, including cultural and workplace adaptation stress, language barriers, limited access to appropriate and responsive care, and heightened isolation. Ms. Kokaze emphasized that these challenges affect not only employees, but also spouses and children, with direct implications for job performance, retention, and assignment success. The discussion underscored that effective support must extend beyond individuals to include families and locally hired employees in order to build healthy, high-performing teams. The session also introduced evidence based frameworks such as the Mental Health at Work Index and shared insights from the global Index dataset, which highlighted the critical role of managers and employee input in translating organizational strategy into meaningful, day to day support. The presentation reinforced the importance of global collaboration in advancing mental health and well-being for Japanese expatriates, their families, and workforces worldwide.
Speakers:
- Haruka Kokaze, Lead Japan Strategy Analyst, One Mind at Work, Maki Kano Lueckerath
- President, Japanese Medical Society of America