MARRIED and soon-to-be-wed couples can now seek help to keep their relationships going,at marriage resource centres that offer marriage counselling inside libraries.
Located in the three regional libraries run by the National Library Board (NLB), the centres will arrange for troubled couples to receive counselling by trained counsellors from 36 family-service centres there.
The resource centres will also provide marriage-related materials like books, magazines and brochures.
The first one opens today at Jurong Regional Library, while the other two at Tampines and Woodlands regional libraries will open by 2012.
They are being set up under a partnership between the NLB and Marriage Central, a one-stop portal that provides marital advice.
The portal was founded to promote stronger, healthier and happier relationships by the National Family Council in March, and supported by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
The resource centres will be especially helpful to couples who attach a stigma to entering a counselling centre, as libraries are "neutral environments", said Mrs Anita Fam, chairman of Marriage Central's advisory board.
She said: "We hope to raise awareness of marriage resources...and provide a neutral environment for married couples facing issues to seek help early."
This comes on the back of a survey that Marriage Central conducted in April with 637 married Singaporeans.
It found that at least nine in 10 married Singaporeans recognised that time
and effort were needed to maintain marital happiness.
It also revealed a demand for marital- education programmes: 61 per cent of respondents welcomed public marriage- enhancement events.
This showed married Singaporeans are open or want to take part in public
marriage-enrichment programmes, Mrs Fam said.
So, Marriage Central will organise events such as marriage-related talks and workshops for couples.
This is in addition to its existing efforts to help couples through articles posted monthly on its website, contributed by family-service centres' counsellors.
Couples can also write to the website to ask for advice on marital and relationship
problems, which trained counsellors will answer.
Marriage Central’s efforts are geared towards couples married for fewer than 10 years, because relationships between couples who have been married between five and nine years were found to be the most vulnerable, Mrs Fam said.
In 1998, 30.4 per cent of marriages that lasted between five and nine years were dissolved; this figure jumped to 35.8 per cent last year.
The increase for this group is the steepest compared to marriages that were terminated after a longer duration. Mr Francis Ang, 31, the executive director of a construction company who
will be getting married on Boxing Day, welcomed the resource centres.
He said: "I think the location doesn't matter so much if one really needs counselling... but I agree that it’s better, and more discreet, if held in a library."
