The New Life Stories (NLS) Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) emphasises the importance of maintaining the parental role for incarcerated individuals through systemic practice. This approach focuses on holistic development and relationship mending within families affected by incarceration.
The FSP encompasses a comprehensive set of services aimed at addressing the multifaceted impacts of incarceration on families, promoting parental atonement and enhancing parent-child relationships. Using evidence from local case studies, it demonstrates the significant influence of systemic practice on reducing recidivism rates, bolstering parental confidence, and improving child literacy.
Despite its successes, the FSP faces multiple challenges when working with the families and other agencies. To combat these issues, NLS employs continuous assessment and feedback mechanisms, ensuring the program's adaptability to the dynamic needs of participating families.
Overall, the FSP stands as a testament to the power of systemic practice in rehabilitating incarcerated individuals and strengthening family bonds, highlighting the critical role of familial connections in successful societal reintegration. This presentation seeks to attract participants interested in the intersection of systemic practice, family dynamics, and the rehabilitation of incarcerated parents, offering insights into the transformative potential of targeted, relationship-centric interventions.
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Shahrul Noentil
Senior Manager & Lead Psychotherapist, Family Care, New Life Stories
Shah's career is deeply rooted in understanding and enhancing the human experience. With over two decades of experience in corporate marketing and management, she transitioned to the helping profession following profound personal transformations. Her journey led her to live abroad, teach yoga, embrace motherhood, and shift her focus to therapeutic work and social services.
For 12 years, Shah served as a mentor to teenage girls in residential care with incarcerated parents, witnessing their growth from students to mothers. She supported them through neglect, pain, and betrayal, recognizing the impact of adverse childhood experiences on their relationships, functioning and resilience. This experience sparked her curiosity about the factors that facilitate or hinder personal growth and thriving.
As a team leader and lead psychotherapist at NLS, Shah collaborates with social workers and counselors to support incarcerated parents and their children in rebuilding relationships and rewriting their life stories. In her private practice, she specializes in trauma therapy for individuals and families. Shah also volunteers to mentor marginalized youth and develops spirituality programs for young Muslims to foster connection and resilience.
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Saleemah Ismail
Chief Executive Officer, New Life Stories
Saleemah is an international development professional, social entrepreneur, and gender equality & diversity advocate. Saleemah is a co-founder and Chief Executive Director of New Life Stories, working with children of incarcerated parents, the incarcerated and their families to prevent intergenerational incarceration, reduce re-offending, improve quality of life and increase community inclusion for the families.
Saleemah serves on several nonprofit boards and committees in Singapore and the region including Hope Villages, a community development project to alleviate poverty in Cambodia and AWWA, a social agency serving persons across life-stages from early intervention and disability support for children and adults with additional needs to social assistance for vulnerable seniors. She has served on boards of Casa Raudha Women Home, a shelter for women and children and Singapore Council of Women Organisations (SCWO), a national coordinating board for women in Singapore.
