Hope with Safa Counselling Centre

Why the name Safa? Safa means peace, we named it because it provides a safe haven for people who are disturbed. Ameena Faiz Mustapha President and senior counsellor said “our projects are open to all communities and faiths””We are focused on bringing ease and solace to those in distress and in need . At the inception we did a housing project for displaced refugees and we named that project the Safa housing project.”

Excerpts

Q About senior counsellor and president, Ameena Faiz Musthafa

A I am a professional family counsellor and I did a Diploma in Counselling at the FSSI ( Family Studies and Services Institute) for over 40 years . This Institute is the pioneer in family counselling and late Fr. Merwin, was the pioneer Under his leadership I followed a comprehensive course which included case studies ,examinations and after several months of training under senior counsellors. Later I worked at FSSI for several years until I joined my husband to go to London after he was appointed as the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in UK.

After I returned to Sri Lanka I had a great desire to start a counselling centre as there was an increasing number of divorces and break-up of families among many and the percentage was alarming. This initiated the formation of Safa . Soon it became success and there was an

excellent response from counsellors, lawyers, professionals

Q What role do you play, your experience and motivations

A The experience at the FSSI as a lecturer specially on pre-marital counselling was very educative. The syllabus was very intensive and I learnt the intricate art of counselling to start off on my own .

A I knew the counselling is the only answer to solve most problems and most people did unaware about counselling Counselling helps the people to relieve their stress and anxiety. Soon people with problems came to the centre. We dealt with family and marital matters, parenting, stress management, addictions, depression, and so on . Safa counselling at Kalubowila gave the much needed serene ambience to help people to get thier problems . We gave a patient hearing to all those who came for guidance.

Q What are many key roles played by Safa Centre A Problems of any kind family, marital, parenting, anxiety, depression, addiction and stress management. We also deal with

b) Pre-Marital Counselling for young couples

c) The topics at this programme are communication, intimacy, conflict management, financial management legal issues, domestic issues

d) Intimacy is a wide subject children don’t discuss with their parent and vice versa There is so much of misinterpretations about intimate relationships, divorces, sexual abuses and many more on crucial subjects.

A We conduct pre -marriage counselling not only in Colombo but in urban areas as well. We have conducted in Kandy, Kahatawita, Matale, Malwana, Akurana Gampola, Colombo Maligawatte, Dematagoda and ,Mattakkuliya

f) We had many workshops on several topics like anger management, mental health among women, positive parenting, conflict management and many other mental health matters.

Q What is the best thing about counselling, comment

A We are happy when we see contentment and smiles among the traumatised We are happy that our mission has been fulfilled

Q Do people fear when coming for help?

A Yes. There is a stigma attached among many people that counselling is only for the mental sickness. To overcome this stigma among has introduced many awareness programmes to educate the public, through articles, workshops and other social media networks we always try to convince the people that mental illness is just like many other illnesses and can be treated effectively

Q What are characteristics of a good counsellor

A a) Be a great listener

b ) Be a person with confidence Confidentiality is the most important key

c) To be empathetic

d) To understand and have feelings towards problems.

e) Never to be judgemental

f) To stimulate and make them aware of problems and s give a solution

Q What’s unique about Safa Counselling Services

A The Safa Counselling Centre has a very good team of Counsellors who are qualified professionals with degrees in many subjects. Our aim is

a ) Confidentiality

b ) To stimulate to think positively

c ) Advise or guide

d ) To be a good listener and to be focussed on the client all the time.

e ) We depend on a good feed back

f ) We have many success stories

Q Safa’s experience with people from different cultures and religions from a counselling perspective We are open to all whatever culture or religion and treat all problems with confidentiality.