UAE ministry to continue free remote family counselling services
Confidential advice available on phone, video call, website and social media
Dubai: The Ministry of Community Development has announced that it will continue to provide its ‘Taaluf’ family counselling services remotely by phone, e-mail and live episodes weekly on its Instagram account.
The ministry has increased “its efforts to achieve family cohesion” through its participation in the ‘Unified Family Counselling Portal’ in support of the General Women’s Union.
The counselling services allow all members of the community to have access to a group of specialists and family counsellors through four interactive channels: the hotline 800623, video calls, the ministry’s website and Instagram account @mocduae.
During the first half of this year, which saw movement restrictions because of COVID-19, the ministry provided more than 282 family counselling services — 84 per cent of them remotely. Alia Al Joker, director of family development department at the ministry, said the ministry supports families to meet the challenges imposed by the rapid changes and strengthen the UAE’s efforts to raise the level of community awareness.
She added that Taaluf counselling services are available free of charge to Emiratis and expatriates who wish to receive advice in various fields (such as marital or educational) via phone or its website.
All the counselling services, in Arabic and English, are provided with full privacy to promote positive family culture in the community.
Out of those who availed of the free counselling services during the first six months of 2020, 75 per cent were Emiratis while 25 per cent were expats of different nationalities.
Al Joker said the health and social conditions resulting from the pandemic have created challenges for families, leading the ministry to develop remote family counselling services. The purpose is to expand the options of providing counselling to help all the family members meet these challenges.