AMMAN (JT) - Her Majesty Queen Rania on Tuesday launched a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of family counselling in Jordan.
The Family Counselling Campaign, organised by the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA) and funded by the embassy of the Netherlands, includes a nationwide media campaign as well as training programmes in the field of counselling.
During a visit to the Al Nuzha Secondary Vocational Training School for Girls, Queen Rania, accompanied by NCFA Secretary General Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, met with a number of counsellors from the Ministry of Education directorates participating in a training workshop that focused on the benefits of counselling.
At the meeting, Her Majesty stressed the importance of raising the number of counsellors and organising training courses so as to graduate better qualified counsellors that can compensate for the lack of counsellors working in schools.
Noting that school counselling goes hand-in-hand with family counselling, Queen Rania also outlined the big responsibility counsellors have in guiding students and providing families with the necessary communication skills.
Her Majesty, accompanied by Ambassador of the Netherlands to Jordan Joanna M. Van Vliet, listened to a briefing by Abu Ghazaleh about the campaign's training programme, which is based on a study conducted by the NCFA in coordination with the University of Jordan (UJ).
The NCFA secretary general noted that the council and UJ are working to develop a new graduate programme in the field of family counselling.
Queen Rania also listened to the workshop trainer, Suhaila Banat, who explained that the training programme includes 12 different areas such as dealing with family abuse cases, childhood and adolescence challenges, group and individual counselling for families, communication skills within families, and the most effective approaches for counselling.
At the counsellor's office, Her Majesty was also briefed on the campaign's media strategy "Ask", which includes brochures, posters and several information centres designed to promote the campaign's services.
Queen Rania then met with the main partners of the Family Counselling Campaign, and was briefed on their role in the field of counselling.
Wasif Al Bakri from the judiciary, Iman Al Ajam, head of the Education Ministry's counselling department, Abdul Salam Al Khawaldeh, head of social development in Zarqa, Inas Durgham from the Family Awareness and Counselling Centre and Ibtihal Al Lababeedi from the Family Development Society also attended the meeting.
Also during her visit, Queen Rania, accompanied by the headmistress of the school, Diana Al Samhouri, chatted with students taking a practical class in child development and home education.
In addition, Her Majesty toured different sections of the school, which is the only one in Amman with an animal farm and greenhouses.
© Jordan Times 2010
