ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at a wide range of services that are designed to help persons in a suicidal crisis and to prevent suicide by means of personal contact by telephone or face-to-face. Such intervention services operate under many names. Befrienders International, which operates in 41 countries, offers help to people in distress. In North America, there are numerous crisis centers, helplines, and suicide prevention centers which vary considerably in the services they provide. Some focus on helping suicidal individuals, their family, and friends, but others offer help for a wide variety of other problems. These organizations are often volunteer-based, but are not necessarily so. Sometimes professionals or trained paraprofessionals provide services to callers. Some services only provide help on the telephone, while others are involved in a wide range of activities including face-to-face counseling, school education programs, and support groups for the bereaved.
