Cognitive behavioural therapy skills training for adolescent depression

Adolescent depression is mainly managed in primary care. However, there are many problems associated with access to general practice and detection, assessment and treatment of youth depression by general practitioners. Clinical guidelines recommend the use of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in treating adolescent depression. Stage 1 of the 'Time for a Future' project involved establishing a new service in Geelong, Victoria, 'The Clockwork Young People's Health Service'. The service aimed to address the barriers to optimal management of adolescent depression.

This article aims to outline Stage 2 of the Time for a Future project which involved training of 'Clockwork' GPs and other practitioners in CBT skills.

The training program was well received by 68 community and Clockwork GPs, who reported significant changes in their confidence to detect, assess and treat adolescent depression. Ten GPs from Clockwork were a small but important subset of the study because the Clockwork model overcame many of the structural barriers that deter optimal management of adolescent depression by GPs. When real and perceived barriers were addressed concurrently with training, further positive outcomes were possible.