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Jeddah: Marriage Officials to Develop “Family Counselling” Skills | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Jeddah, Asharq Al-Awsat – The Al Mawaddah Social Center for Reform and Family Guidance in the Jeddah governorate announced that it is attempting to develop the family counselling skills of marriage officials and counsellors by concluding a cooperation agreement with the Jeddah Governorate Personal Status Court. This agreement includes the establishment of a number of joint programs with regards to training, raising awareness, and cooperation in the field of [social] studies, in addition to joint cooperation on guidance and educational campaigns.

Al Mawaddah Center chairman Zuhair Naseer told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Center, which supervises eight family reform bureaus, specializes in family conflict and reconciliation.

He added that the objective of concluding this agreement is to develop the skills of marriage officials in the Jeddah governorate through training courses, in addition to them undertaking a bigger guidance role with regards to young citizens looking to get married. Nasser said that family counselling in this regard is guidance that takes place after marriage, and that the marriage officials will also educate the youth who wish to get married on family and marital life.

Nasser told Asharq Al-Awsat, “We are trying to activate the role of legitimate marriage officials by transforming their role to include guidance and marriage counselling, providing marriage officials with guidelines and educational publications on family development and methods of maintaining family stability. These include advice for married couples and those wishing to get married, with different advice for husbands and wives.” This agreement also includes workshops that will be held for marriage officials in order to “highlight their expected role regarding family stability.”

Zuhair Nasser also added that the agreement that was signed by the head of the Jeddah Personal Status Court Sheikh Saleh Bin Ahmed Hebad and General Supervisor of the Al Mawaddah Social Center for Reform and Family Guidance Anas Ibn Abdul Wahab Zarraa, includes a number of themes the most important of which is marriage officials being given training on methods of solving family disputes.

Nasser also told Asharq Al-Awsat that the agreement additionally stipulates that the Al Mawaddah Centre would train marriage officials at the court’s Department of Magistrates, and will focus on the theory and application of family reform. The agreement also includes the Al Mawaddah Centre and the Jeddah Personal Status Court working together on studies on marriage stability and on guidelines and educational campaigns to be launched in the future.