Website launched to give parents in Oman a support network

Energy Sunday 19/May/2019 21:15 PM
By: Times News Service
Website launched to give parents in Oman a support network

Muscat: A website to help new parents deal with the challenges they can expect to face has been launched by a group of mental health volunteers in Oman.
Called Wahaj Oman, the site was launched by the Psychology of Youth volunteering team. The group of mental health professionals help families whose members have mental illnesses, and help spread awareness to reduce the stigma of mental challenges in the country.
Although the website, www.wahaj-oman.com, is only available in Arabic at the moment, they are planning on rolling out an English version as well.
“This is a new youth initiative by developing a website that will be the first Omani parenting website,” said Abeer Al Mujaini, the founder of the Psychology of Youth team.
“It has the first electronic directory for all the services that are required by children in Oman. Apart from that, it has educational materials from parents and this information is supervised by doctors and parenting specialists from hospitals across the country, as well as psychologists and psychiatrists.
She added: “In addition, it has a research page, an events page, and a guide against child abuse and for child protection, so basically, we launched the website, and are now trying to spread awareness so that we can enable parents in any home to access this. In the future, we are making an English version, because we need to assist expats as well.”
Designing the website took over a year, and although it was made possible due to the efforts of the team, Abeer and the rest of the group first want to translate the directory into English so that expat families who need to tackle mental health issues can receive assistance.
“It took over one year to make this website, and it was a team effort to bring this out,” she said.
“We are going to have a translated version soon, but we will aim for the translation of the directory first because that is important for expat families. As a team, we have just launched this website because we believe in sustainable solutions.
She added: “Workshops and seminars and all of that are wonderful, there must be a sustainable solution towards parenting and this website goes across all time and space. It is accessible anywhere, and it is a sustainable solution. We hope that there are more sustainable solutions available for mental health awareness.”
The group is part of the Children First Association, an umbrella organisation that operates with the supervision of the Ministry of Social Development, and Abeer says that they are looking to collaborate with more volunteer organisations in the future.
“Wahaj means ‘glow’, that would be the direct translation,” she said. “It means ‘light’ or ‘glow’, which is why the light bulb is the symbol of our website, because we want to enlighten parents. We want to make their journey in parenting a bit brighter and a bit more clear. This is a website that brings everyone together.”
We have people from the governmental side, we have people from the private sector, we have people from the various volunteering and disabled associations, and we have a lot of collaborations coming in so many aspects.”