Last night, TELL’s board of directors thanked former Chairman Craig Saphin and Treasurer Jill Butler in their final board meeting for their hard work and commitment to building a stronger organization that better serves the community.

Before stepping down as Chairman this spring, Craig led TELL’s board of directors for three and a half years, pushing hard to professionalize TELL, and to ensure that our processes and personnel allow us to continue to grow and support the mental health needs of the international community in Japan.

Jill Butler served as Board Treasurer for nearly two years, helping to reorganize TELL’s financial processes to provide the directors with improved financial management abilities. 

Not only does TELL rely on the generosity and support of the community to provide volunteer Lifeline phone counselors and funding, but also our board of directors is comprised of volunteers. Last year, TELL opened a phone room in Kobe and we just completed our third training course for volunteer phone counselors living in the Kansai region. In part as a result, our overall phone counselor numbers are increasing, our shift coverage is improving, and we are moving closer to our goal of providing a 24/7 Lifeline. 

We are extremely grateful to Craig and Jill for their dedication to TELL’s mission, and for their support of the provision of mental health services in Japan.

– Anne Bille, Chair