By Jamal Yeli
KUWAIT, Feb 20 (KUNA) -- Acting Director General of the Social Development Office (SDO) Dr. Wafaa Al-Aradi said that the office since it was established in 1992 has been working hard to achieve psychological and social wellbeing of citizens.
Al-Aradi confirmed in an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the office offers a host of psychological and social counseling services to children, adolescents and adults.
She explained that the office has six specialized centers providing world-class free of charge counseling services to citizens: The Child and Adolescent Center, the Bioinformatics Center and the Phone Counseling Center, the Psychological Testing Center and the Guidance and Vocational Rehabilitation Center and the Hearing and Speech Center.
She described Child and Adolescent Center as the most active SDO's center where children constitute 30 to 40 percent of the visitors. It deals with anxiety disorders, phobia, children bedwetting and children who subjected abuses. Al-Aradi noted that the Bioinformatics Center provides training for patients on how to overcome and ease psychological pressure and identify physiological impacts of anxiety and excessive stress, especially those related to family and marital problems.
She said the Phone Counseling Center offers a very desirable service in Kuwait "because it allows people to get the advice they need without disclosing their identity." The Psychological Testing Center collaborates with the psychological and social service departments at the Ministry of Education to provide sophisticated psychological IQ tests and behavioral assessments.
She pointed out that the Guidance and Vocational Rehabilitation Center is specialized in providing individual and collective vocational guidance to high school students and university students and the Public Authority for Applied Education to help them choose the right scientific specialty, to help graduates in choosing the right job for their academic specialization, giving lectures and training sessions for employees to gain skills that help them to adapt to the work environment and difficulties, and managing the pressures that they face.
As for the Hearing and Speech Center, Al-Aradi noted that the center is part of the cooperation with the Ministry of Health represented by Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Speech and Hearing Center, which refers many cases to the Office.
She added that the center receives both who are suffering from difficulty in pronunciation, such as stuttering, articulation of sound, language delay from the age of 4 years and above, also its contains advanced equipment to help in the treatment, special rooms, equipped laboratory for analysis, diagnosis and treatment of speech disorders in addition to the airtight chamber to examine and measure hearing Al-Aradi clarified that the office cooperates with the ministries of interior, health and social affairs to provide psychosocial therapy to children who experienced violence and ill-treatment.
She said the office is cooperating with the Ministry of the Interior to offer psychological and social therapy to children involved in crimes.
Moreover, the Ministry of Health also refer to the SDO center's children and adolescents who have been exposed to violence, psychological, physical and sexual abuse in order to offer them appropriate treatment and counseling services, Al-Aradi noted. She added the office cooperate with the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, an affiliate to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, to offer training courses and awareness campaigns on a various of topics related to family counseling.
The Office of Social Development was established in 1992 by the then Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and was affiliated to Amiri Diwan to offer psychological and social counseling services.
In 2011, the responsibility of the office was referred to the Diwan of His Highness the Prime to be under the direct supervision of the Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah. (end) jy.tab.ibi