Juvenile Center Creative Writing Program “Atrab”

Abstract

The Middle East offers a limited number of research and case studies that refer to education and psychological programs designed to rehabilitate Juveniles in detention centers, especially in the UAE. The lack of research in this field has led to lower the awareness and the public perception of these centers and has kept them in the dark. Despite the fact that most detention centers welcome public volunteer programs and psychological analysis of the wellbeing of the young minds that reside in the facility, the lack of awareness has affected the development of a cohesive program that is affective and can actually help rehabilitating the children. So far, juveniles in Al Mafraq receive their normal education in the school built in the center, and see social workers to discuss their mental health, and receive minimum psychological assessment when they enter the facility. The Department of Culture and Tourism—Abu Dhabi (DCT) has initiated a program in 2017 to help minimize the gap and offered programs that allow juveniles to express themselves aiming to raise awareness of their inner feelings and bring it to the outside world. This paper is an intrinsic case study; describing one of the programs offered by (DCT), the writing program, and the process of instructions and construction as well as the writing material developed by the juveniles. Lastly, the observed changed behaviors of the Juvenile Center residents after the program called “Atrab.”