The Ministry of Community Development continues its sustainable development role through various initiatives and awareness programs in cooperation with the National Program for Prevention of Drug (Siraj) of the Anti-Drug Council and the Ministry of Interior; where it organized awareness workshops targeting families all over the UAE family cohesion and community coherence.
These workshops and seminars are part of strengthening the role of the family in protecting its children from the scourge of drugs and raising awareness among members of the community "both family and children", protecting individuals and raising their awareness of the dangers of addiction and drugs to himself and society as well. The (20) workshops, launched this year 2020, will continue as part of the ministry's plan and the National Program for Prevention of Drug-SIRAJ to increase the awareness of family members.
Eman Hareb Al Falahi, Director of Social Protection Department at the Ministry of Community Development, said: “The awareness workshops to be carried out in turn have been completed through the social development centers of the Ministry all over the UAE and attended by (628) parents in pursuit of the principle of a cohesive family and promoting social stability in its various forms”.
She elaborated that the ministry seeks through its awareness and educational programs to make a positive impact on all family members, in an effort to protect children and ensure their upbringing together, pointing out that the awareness program was based on a range of pillars, the most important are: raising the family's awareness of risk factors that drive children to abuse and addiction, giving the family the skills necessary to deal with children positively,
highlighting the importance of family cohesion in protecting children from drugs, raising family awareness about the types of narcotics and psychotropic substances, methods and indicators of abuse, in addition to promoting family skills in dealing with abused or addicted children and supporting them to recover.
Colonel Dr. Rashid Al-Dhaheri, chairman of the National Higher Committee for Drug Prevention at the Ministry of Interior, noted the importance of the role of the family in teaching its children the skills of rejecting addiction. He stressed that the family has a major role in early detection by identifying the indicators of abuse and reporting directly to treatment centers in the UAE in case of drug use by children as early treatment saves children from addiction.
The awareness workshops reinforce the important role of parents in providing advice and guidance to their children and getting close to them and understanding their needs, in addition to the importance of the positive dialogue of parents and listening to their children, protecting them from bad companions who have a negative impact on their behaviors and ethics.