Group of community counsellors to be placed at flood relief centres

KOTA BARU: The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) will place a group of lay community counsellors at each flood relief centre to assist victims traumatised by the disaster beginning this year.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim (pix) said it is an improvement of its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the ministry that always conducted assessments to upgrade service quality to the public.
"When I visited the flood victims, I saw some of them depressed because of the catastrophe, so the KPWKM will place a community counselling group to help them from a psychological perspective to deal with the disaster," she said.
She was speaking to reporters after launching the Tour programme #NEGARAKU_Keluarga Bahagia_KPWKM at the Dewan Tun Ghaffar Baba, Kompleks Yayasan Kemiskinan Kelantan (YKK) in Padang Kala which was attended by Kok Lanas assemblyman Datuk Md Alwi Che Ahmad, today.
She said, the ministry trains at least 5,000 civilians each year through various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to join the group of community counsellors.
In the meantime, Rohani said Social Welfare Department (JKM) officers were already making early preparations to face the floods.
"For Kelantan, we've done the initial preparations, but Kedah and Perlis are already flooded. However, JKM officers from Kelantan have been sent to the two states to help deal with the disaster," she said.
Commenting on the national diver who was allegedly raped by her coach last month, Rohani said she had suggested to the Youth and Sports Ministry to place some counsellors at the sports village to help athletes.
"There are athletes who dare not talk about their problems with their coaches or managers, so the presence of these counsellors may help them (athletes) to open up and discuss whatever issues they are having," she said. — Bernama