EMCC held workshops for different groups of professionals on conflict management, focusing on mediation as an effective means of conflict resolution. Professionals from the education field, namely the allied health educators from schools in the North Zone cluster and teachers from Tampines Secondary, had their first taste of mediation under the guidance of EMCC’s expert mediator trainers. The workshops were held on 6 Oct and 2 & 3 Nov respectively. EMCC also concluded its third run of the “Basic Mediation Advocacy” workshops for working professionals for the year on 15 & 16 Nov.

Holding true to its cause of promoting the spirit of peacemaking in schools, EMCC conducted peer mediation workshops for Greendale Secondary on 9 & 10 Nov and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School on 24 & 25 Nov respectively. The students were taught foundational mediation skills to resolve interpersonal conflict within the school context and had opportunities to put the skills they learnt to test in fictional dispute scenarios.

Recognising that peace begins with the family, EMCC also worked closely with couples and parents to equip them with basic mediation skills within the family context. Collaborating with Marriage Central, husband-wife team comprising EMCC’s Principal Mediator Chia Swee Tin and EMCC Management Committee member Chia Kok Leong gave an inspiring talk titled “Fight to Love / Love to Fight” to couples on conflict management. Held on 19 Nov, the engaging couple shared with more than 50 couples on how they learn to normalise fights in their marriage journey of 40 years.

EMCC also brought its own brand of peacemaking to North Spring Primary School on 10 Nov where thirty-one parents had a first-hand account from EMCC’s Executive Director Benjamin Chan on parent-child conflict. Benjamin spoke extensively on the importance of connecting emotionally and establishing a strong bond between parent and child.

We hope that our training workshops will serve as a springboard from which a future cohort of mediation advocates can be nurtured, contributing to the peacemaking cause in the community.

We look forward to your continued support and to receiving your increasing favour and goodwill towards forging a closer partnership with you to overcome the challenges ahead. We encourage you to try donating online through our website at www.emcc.org.sg/Donations_Default.aspx.

Wishing you and all your relationships a blessed and meaningful 2011!

• Understand their makeup and their development.
• Identify traits of miscommunication and behavioral patterns that were results of family background.
• Create awareness on areas of their lives where there is need of development.
• Learn skills and exercises that help to develop areas of emotional and relational health.
• Set developmental framework and plans for personal development

The eight modular curriculum of the Program is to address various emotional, communication and developmental needs. The way the curriculum is designed is coupled with interactive activities and motivational interviews to help participants to gain self awareness and understanding of personal needs for growth. It is done in group setting whereby symptoms and dysfunctional styles are shared in the process of discovery and activity. It provides good interaction and a safe environment for self and communal learning. There are careful researches done drawing statistical reports on behavioral science. Issues on addiction, communication dysfunctional styles and emotional difficulties are addressed.

While this project is still at the infant stage, the training given to our counselors has exposed them to an added level of skills and knowledge to better understand and guide their counselees to recovery.

Again, under the North East CDC Family and Fathering initiatives we have help arranged various father-child bonding activities and workshops which we believe would help produce a conducive environment for growing healthy kids. This is what one child has to say “I have learnt to communicate with my father” and another “I want to thank daddy for spending time with me”. And who would not agree that communication and spending time are two important ingredients necessary for cultivating healthy bonding and relationships.

In this connection with and in support of the new fathering movement in Singapore, EMCC launched a series of Active Fathering Workshops with the objective of equipping fathers to be the role model and pacesetters of their family. One such workshops was a fatherhood preparation workshop entitled “Dare 2b a Dad-2b” for new and expectant dads designed to explore the transition of the husband into the role of the father – bringing to light and awareness the various changes involved, as well as how to plan for and manage them. Another in-house workshop conducted by EMCC was “The Legacy Dad” which challenged fathers to leave a lasting and meaningful legacy for their children apart from material wealth. Wives of these dads were also invited to these fathering workshops to provide their husbands with the understanding and support in their parenting adventure together.

Unlike most other charitable organisations, such as those serving the very old, the very sick or the physically disadvantaged, the kind of work EMCC does in helping families and couples in turmoil and people in conflict, are not so tangible or visible to the public. However, we persevere on and as the story goes “one starfish at a time’ we make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities. We believe in strengthening the social fabric of our communities and to address related social ills such divorces, families in conflict, poor parenting and the fallout of neglected delinquent ‘at-risks’ kids, by targeting right at the roots of all societies which is founded on the bedrock of stable families.

To this end we are ever thankful and grateful for your faithful support to help sustain the work of EMCC in “Bringing Hope to Relationships”.  We are encouraged to press on, ‘one starfish at a time’ to be channels of blessings and hope to rekindle relationships, renew marriages and restore broken relationships and families in our society.  Yes, your support has indeed made our work worthwhile!

The day finally came and gone but for those who were present it left an indelible imprint in our hearts that the mission of “Bringing hope to relationships” is indeed a worthy cause. Since being granted the Civic & Community Institution Space at Liang Court under the auspices of the National Council of Social Services more than a year ago, we were finally able to have the official opening of our new centre under the theme “Celebrating Relationships” on Sunday, 10^th Oct 2010. Indeed this emphasis came timely as our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his recent People’s Association 50^th Anniversary Celebration Speech said that “nation building is not just about building the infrastructure, but it is also about community bonding” and he further elaborated that “these 50 years of nation building…is not just building roads or trains, airports, hospitals and schools, HDB estates, but also bringing people together so that they are happy to live together, work together, with friends in the community.”

This is where organisations like EMCC have a pivotal role to play in nation building. With our unique integrative counselling and mediation services, coupled with our suite of upstream equipping training initiatives and public education activities (public talks, radio programmes and publications), we aim to nurture and develop stronger and healthier psycho-emotional individuals, marriages and families which is the cornerstone for  better community bonding and national cohesiveness.

Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee was our invited Guest-Of-Honor. Other invited guests included our partners and supporters from both the government and community, as well as friends from the counselling & mediation fraternity and our regular volunteers and donors. Professor Ho exhorted the fraternity to press on in their efforts to be proactive agents of conciliation for hurting and broken people in our society; echoing the sentiment of a recent Parliament appointed workgroup who recommended the strengthening of the Maintenance of Parents Act by having compulsory conciliation session. Two new resources were also launched at our Opening – the booklet “So You Want To Be Heard!” on parenting tips for communicating with your child and “COSPI” (Conflict Style Preference Inventory) for use by professional practitioners.

The programme ended with a round of appreciation with token awards presented to our long serving board members, staff and associates. A tea reception was hosted for all guests, supporters and friends, who mingled freely – eating, drinking and happily chatting and reveling in the warm afterglow of the day’s meaningful event; reminisce of a safe place called home which incidentally is the décor theme of our new centre. Indeed as we each headed home, we were reminded that the purpose of this Official Opening was to celebrate relationships – beginning from our individual homes and radiating to the community around us!

Another book title by Mrs Maureen Ng: So You Want To Be A Father!

(Email us at reachus@emcc.org.sg if you are interested for a copy of the booklet)

It was a unique scene at Greendale Primary School on Saturday, 2 October. Grown men could be spotted running and hiding behind pillars alongside their children! Fathers and their children, with laser tag guns in hand and a common mission in mind, were out for some great fun!

About 80 enthusiastic fathers, together with their excited children, participated in a Father-Children Bonding Activity organised under the Family & Fathering initiative @ North East CDC, jointly carried out by EMCC and Greendale Primary School.

It was indeed a special time for fathers and children to play together, to create shared memories and to bond.  Fathers got to experience their children’s world and see their children through different lenses. The meaningful experience took on more depth and clarity as the fathers gathered in groups after the games to discuss about how they could apply what they had learnt and about improving their listening skills. On top of being inspired to fatherhood, the fathers also formed new friendships with one another – a relevant and important social net for fathers.