Reaching the Suicidal in Rural Communities

Conclusion

If suicide might best be conceptualized as a multidemensional problem,its prevention must,as well,require multifaceted approaches.No one domain,e.g.,biological or psychiatric,nor no one preventive model will succeed if we think parochially or engage territorial turf wars.The great value to an international conference such as this lies in the forging of collaborative efforts and,at least,our openness to listening to others speak of their successes and failures,their problems,their needs,and those strategic interventions conceptually developed with both universal (i.e.,international)translatability and targeted (i.e.,indigenous)applicability.

Together our many voices form a chorus of great potential to make a difference...if we only could listen carefully.

“Part of this paper was first published as’ suicide and Crisis Intervention in Rural Communities in Sri Lanka’, Crisis, volume 17, number 4, 1996”