Awareness & Education

The service is delivered by a group of volunteers. Volunteers are trained to befriend people who are emotionally distressed. Training gives them the skill of befriending. Volunteers are not Counselors but Befrienders. Befriending is the art of positive listening to troubled feelings and helping distressed persons to explore healthy options which can ultimately lead to empowerment and a positive approach to life’s issues. With the passage of time Sumithrayo have expanded their services to meet with emerging needs.

Suicide prevention has and will always be the primary objective of the organization. Since 1996 when the special Presidential Task Force set up the National Policy on suicide prevention, it is recognized that mental illness, alcohol and drug use, poor coping skills, are all contributory factors that lead people towards suicide in Sri Lanka. Services are therefore targeted towards helping people who fall into these categories. The fact that suicide is invariably the outcome of a combination of factors – environmental, psychological, sociological and biological is now accepted without debate.

Additionally, awareness and education programmes are set up to change attitudes and values of the community regarding the practice of suicide and also minimize the risk factors in the community at large. The service is no longer confined to the four walls of a centre, but is community oriented where volunteers are specially trained to work towards changing harmful social practices in the community as a whole.