Diana Marcela Solano

High suicide rates in Indigenous communities starkly underscore the contradictions within multicultural and intercultural promises made by liberal states and New Constitutional frameworks. In Latin America, while the general suicide rate remains relatively low, youth suicide rates in Indigenous populations are among the highest (Tuesta Cerrón et al., 2012). In response, global initiatives like PAHO and WHO have promoted action plans to address the colonial legacies affecting Indigenous mental health. In Colombia, state-led guidelines and projects have been developed but are still not fully integrated into health and governmental bureaucracies. This research focuses on the ‘Intercultural Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Project’ in Antioquia, a conservative region in Colombia, managed by the Ethnic Health Secretariat in collaboration with the University of Antioquia and six Indigenous groups. Covering 32 municipalities and over 56 Indigenous territories, the project aims to reduce suicide rates by developing culturally informed mental health pathways. Using a multi-sited ethnographic approach that combines document analysis, in-depth interviews, and photo-elicitation, this study examines how non-Indigenous, Eurocentrically-trained bureaucrats negotiate institutional ties between the state and Indigenous communities to address mental health needs while exploring their own views on spirituality and their role as state representatives in multicultural health governance.