**5. Conclusion**

Following 20 years of very traumatic stress resulting from exposure to civil war in Northern Uganda, there arose an epidemic of mass suicide in all communities. In response to community outcry ranging from official civic and political leaders through religious leaders to members of rural communities, Gulu University Department of Mental Health established a suicide prevention program. By training and providing support supervision, 60 volunteer lay counselors achieved improved mental wellbeing and psychosocial functioning. We recommend a replication of this emergency response, as it promises to enable rural communities with limited access to professional mental health service cope with the detrimental effects of very severe traumatic stress.
