The Post-Trip Seminar in Sendai; The TOMODACHI J&J Disaster Nursing Training Program 2017

From September 23 to 24, 2017, the TOMODACHI J&J Disaster Nursing Training Program Post-Trip Seminar took place in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture. This seminar was organized to share and reexamine each of the activities that the students have been planning since their U.S. Study Trip. The seminar also helped them prepare for their final presentations in December.

This year, students were encouraged to start planning and preparing for their activity projects during their U.S. Study Trip, so that they could start designing their proposals as soon as they returned to Japan. However, for many of the students, it was their first time proposing and executing a project all on their own. Students rehearsed presenting their projects and received constructive feedback from fellow members, mentors and staff. This feedback helped the students realize important elements that they did not notice before. The students also verified the difference between “mokuteki (purpose)” and “mokuhyou (goal)” and revised their activity proposals accordingly.

Moreover, TOMODACHI alumnae Mitsuyoshi Tsuda (4^th year at Tohoku Gakuin University) came to the seminar to give advice from his own experience on tackling the challenges in designing and executing the project. Although the students will lead the designing and execution of the project, it is also important to collaborate with their community of friends and teachers, and to foster leadership skills within their communities.

After meeting the students on the first day, the mentors held a workshop on the second day for the students to “Look Back to Their Origins.” The workshop provided opportunities for students to reflect on such questions as, “What were my motives for participating in this program,” “How do I want to grow through this program,” and “Looking at the goal that I have set, where do I stand now?” The workshop enabled them to reexamine once more what they have gained through their activities and the lessons they have learned a month after the U.S. Study Trip. At the same time, students were able to organize their thoughts and ideas for their final presentation through this workshop. In the final presentation in December, students will share what they have gained and acquired through the entire process of this program.