Evaluation of a suicidality and self-harm training program for Australian school counsellors

Abstract The rate of suicidality and self-harm in adolescents has risen sharply over the last decade. Adolescents with suicidal thoughts and self-harming behaviours frequently present to school counsellors, yet many counsellors report feeling ill-equipped to support these students. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of a face-to-face training program developed specifically for school counsellors that aimed to improve their knowledge and confidence in supporting students who self-harm and/or have thoughts of suicide. Participants were 389 school counsellors working in secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia. Participants completed a one-day training session delivered in person by the Black Dog Institute. Evaluation measures were assessed pre-training, immediately post-training and three-months later (follow-up). There was an improvement in counsellor knowledge and confidence at post-training and follow-up ( d = 0.50–0.77). Participants reported high levels of training acceptability, with over 90% rating the quality of the training as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. Limitations of the study include the lack of a control group, the inclusion of counsellors from government schools only, and the use of a retrospective consent process. Overall, results suggest this training may improve counsellor knowledge and confidence in supporting student suicidality and/or self-harm.