School Guidance Counsellors and Adolescent Depression.

The first of these companion articles (Bulkeley, 2010a) described research from focus groups in Auckland and a questionnaire developed from this data about school counsellors' beliefs, knowledge, and practice regarding adolescent depression. This second article discusses training that school counsellors had previously undertaken which they believed helped them to work effectively with depressed students; their experiences of liaison with and referral to adolescent mental health services; as well as their perceived training needs in this area. Results from both the focus groups and the questionnaire are presented and discussed, together with some quotations from participants. Information from both sources was carefully considered and led to the development of a training workshop specifically designed for school counsellors and which the participants evaluated positively. This workshop covered assessment and screening for depression, and decisions about making appropriate referrals. To finish, I introduce some simple strategies for working effectively with depressed adolescents, referred to as "The Famous Five." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]