Family Counseling: The Closest Path to a Balanced and Peaceful Family

Marital life is not devoid of problems no matter how strong the bond between spouses is. With their understanding of life's nature, simple mistakes fade away, forgiveness replaces denial, and intimacy replaces scrutiny. However, with the fast pace of life and the intertwining of psychological and familial pressures, misunderstandings occur, which can escalate to the point of destroying marital life.

This is where the role of family counseling comes to the forefront, whether provided by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, civil societies, or psychologists and experts in marital relationships, to offer couples the solutions they need based on scientific knowledge and experience.

Despite the importance of these consultations for family stability, awareness of their significance remains weak, whether due to fear of stigma or underestimation of their importance, with each party believing they know best about their family affairs. This leads to the continuation and accumulation of mistakes, with recourse to counseling only after matters have become complicated and reached an impasse.

What many people fail to realize is that family consultations can indeed help address major problems and often serve as genuine support for the family, especially since issues that arise, especially among newlyweds or related to improper child-rearing practices, require experienced insights to prevent escalation.

Family counseling is a modern concept that emerged in social studies, aiming to assist individuals through a professional relationship between the counselor and the counselee, governed by principles and ethics.

To this end, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has focused on this field through its Family Counseling Center, dealing professionally and scientifically with the problems faced by some members of society and providing them with appropriate guidance to maintain family balance and stability, in line with a scientific vision that aligns with our society's nature. The Family Counseling Center also aims to provide safe handling of social problems early on to minimize their harm.

Among the prominent problems that require resorting to these consultations are domestic violence, family disintegration, children's issues, and marital conflicts.

Family counseling can also address educational problems, such as identifying suitable education, dealing with adaptation issues, academic performance, and truancy.

Additionally, the Family Counseling Center deals with some legal issues, such as deviant behavior, and provides legal consultations related to social matters.

Its primary targets include families at risk of various forms of disintegration, divorcées, widows with uncontrollable children, parents struggling to guide their children, newlyweds in need of support to avoid family instability, vulnerable youth, families of prisoners needing support to overcome difficulties in the absence of a guardian, families affected by substance abuse, and those in need of social services.

In addition to these conventional family issues, recent developments have introduced new problems, such as one spouse's preoccupation with social media platforms or continuous comparisons with what is seen on these platforms with their current situation.

The president of the Al-Mawaddah Association for Family Development in the Mecca region, Eng. Faisal Al-Samnoudi, notes that forty percent of the association's consultations are social, and any case received is treated with complete confidentiality, to the extent that names are not requested, and responses are provided by counselors specializing in reform and family counseling, who possess the qualifications to handle such tasks.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development provides family and social counseling services to prevent violence and receives reports through the Family Violence Reporting Center at 1919.