Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan

Tan Sri Faizah Mohd Tahir“We cannot as a nation gaindevelopment and growth ifour own lives are broken. The1Malaysia vision calls on us tobe a family in our homes, and inour land. 1Malaysia seeks for usto return to the basics of mutualrespect, honesty, responsibility anda caring society”By year end, more comprehensive family counselling services will be madeavailable at all the 53 Nur Sejahtera clinics in the country. In 2006, we started theSMARTSTART course for couples intending to get married and those who havebeen married for five years or less. The programme, now offered in 4 languages,offers couples tips and skills in areas such as parenthood, managing family stressand conflicts amongst others.To help Malaysian families cope with contemporary living and lifestyles, Parenting@Work Programme was introduced at the workplace in 2007. Issues such as worklifebalance, effective parenting and stress management are emphasised at theworkplace.To address the negative risk taking behaviour amongst the young, kafe@TEENwas set up to provide counselling services, skills building, and reproductive healtheducation for those aged 13 to 24.Due to its popularity today, with the Education Ministry, we will be up scaling thisthrough five schools in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Pahang and Kelantan.All these programmes are of no real benefit, if as individuals in our daily roles, wedo not focus on ourselves and our families.We cannot as a nation gain development and growth if our own lives are broken. The1Malaysia vision calls on us to be a family in our homes, and in our land. 1Malaysiaseeks for us to return to the basics of mutual respect, honesty, responsibility anda caring society. To gain success as a nation, we must define success in our ownhomes, in our own souls and in our own conscience.59