This study investigated the impact of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Rational-Emotive Education (REE) self-enhancement programs on children's self-talk, self-esteem and irrational beliefs. A total of 116 children (50.9% girls) with a mean age of 9.8 years attending Years 4 and 6 at two primary schools participated in the study. CBT resulted in a reduction in negative self-talk while REE seemed to enhance independence beliefs. Both programs were associated with increased positive self-talk and with having increased rationality in Conformity and Discomfort Intolerance beliefs.

This article examines the literature and the experience of the MindMatters Plus demonstration schools in regard to improving student and staff mental health literacy. The aim of the MindMatters Plus initiative is to build the capacity of secondary schools to increase their support of students with high mental health needs. This is achieved in various ways including the embedding of strategies that support students into the curriculum and ethos of the school, creating processes that effectively identify students at risk, and building community partnerships. A foundation for these strategies is to strengthen staff and student awareness of mental health issues and to create an environment in which students are more willing to seek assistance. This article explores how schools can increase student and staff mental health literacy, and includes examples gained from the experience of the MindMatters Plus demonstration schools.

This article presents the results of an action-research project. The project consisted of a reflection process involving a year-long collaboration between a teacher, a teaching assistant and a speech therapist in a special education school, together with two researchers acting as counsellors. The reflection process sought to promote changes in the participants’ approaches to working on communication and language in the classroom. This article sets out to identify and describe the processes of change in the three teaching professionals’ conceptions of communication and language teaching and learning, and about their teaching role. The collaborative counselling lasted 32 weeks and consisted of a total of nine group counselling (GC) sessions. All of the nine GC sessions were transcribed in order to analyse the changes in the teaching professionals’ discourse. The ATLAS.ti 7.0 program was then used to select speech quotations and to group them into thematic clusters based on content analysis. The results indicate that the teaching professionals’ conceptions subtly changed during the collaborative counselling process; specifically, their conceptions about how to develop communication and language, classroom interaction, the educator’s role, organisation of context and curriculum planning.

The aim of the study was to obtain adolescents’ perspectives about why young people offend. Twenty-four Australian male and female offenders and non-offenders offered insights about what, according to them, motivates young people to become involved in crime. Without the use of sophisticated language, participants offered explanations that were well-aligned with the ‘big three’ theories suggested by Cullen and Agnew (2003) as major criminological theories — namely, control, differential association, and strain theories. Participants also provided explanations that corroborated Carroll, Houghton, Durkin, and Hattie's (2009) reputation enhancing goals theory. Participants’ explanations were consistent with empirically supported criminological theories, suggesting that young people involved in crime, or associated with known offenders, have insights about the causes of crime. An extrapolation of this notion would suggest that they might also have some insight into what measures could be taken to reduce or prevent offending. Notwithstanding further research, it is proposed that young people should be given more voice in criminal justice matters.

As teachers seek to educate and transform lives, often with limited resources and time, they can experience varying levels of stress and emotional exhaustion, particularly if effective emotion regulation strategies are not employed. The experience of teacher stress may be heightened in alternative schools that provide educational opportunities for students who present with complex needs and are ‘at-risk’ of withdrawing from the conventional school system. This case study explored the perceived outcomes of a 6-week school-based mindfulness program to manage stress and support the emotion regulation of four teachers at a metropolitan Australian alternative school. The study took a mixed-methods approach to data collection, which included self-report questionnaires, interview responses and journal reflections. A number of limitations, such as small sample size and lack of experimental design, had an impact on the generalisability of the study’s findings. However, a range of beneficial outcomes emerged in association with the mindfulness program, revealing that participants experienced increased levels of both mindfulness and emotion regulation ability, in conjunction with decreased stress and emotional exhaustion levels.

In this article we report Maltese primary and secondary students' perspectives about their school experiences and their mental health. Questionnaires were completed by 281 students. Relationships emerged between students' reports about their involvement in bullying, mental health status, and a range of typical features of school environments. A conservative non-parametric Jonckheere-Terpstra test indicated significant unidirectional differences, from non-involved through to bully/victim groups, for six selected variables that have the potential to be influenced by schools' policies and practices, namely, positive school community, coping with school work, social and emotional education, friendships, safety, and teachers' responses to bullying events. Effect sizes ranged from small to medium. This study illustrates identifiable patterns of students' social, emotional and academic wellbeing. It highlights the need for intervention programs that are conceptualised to meet the needs of different student groups, in this case, involvement in bullying as a victim or as a bully. It also highlights how a range of school-based influences may operate together to affect the wellbeing of students, and points to the need for multi-disciplinary collaboration and approaches to mental health promotion in schools.

A degree of controversy and debate exists about the best educational experiences to fulfil the potential of gifted students. Special class placement can give good educational experiences and opportunities for gifted students. However, Marsh and Parker (1984) described the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) where equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-ability schools than in low-ability schools. Self-concept is an important factor in determining academic achievement. The place of motivation in academic achievement is well documented (Ames, 1992; Ames & Archer, 1988; Blumenfeld, 1992; Dweck, 1986) and determined by mastery or performance-goal orientation (Dweck, 1986). The motivation will ultimately have a bearing on both achievement and self-concept. The purpose of this research was to determine the interrelationship of self-concept, motivation and achievement in gifted primary school children in a variety of groupings from a parent's perspective.

This paper overviews school psychology at the close of the 20th century, exploring the profession's location within public sector bureaucracies. The paper draws liberally from various literatures: the dynamics of globalisation and its impact on nation-states, perspectives on public sector organisational change, developments in school psychology, international perspectives from practicing school psychologists, and, a case example which illustrates the dynamic and problematic relationship between organisational reform and professional practice. The paper concludes with several themes around which practitioners are encouraged to reflect upon the profession, and their own practices, with the view to considering how best to develop pro-active responses in their own organisational and workplace circumstances.

This paper describes a structured problem-solving approach for successfully engaging adolescents having difficulties with social interactions. Counselling is conducted on a 1-to-1 basis and aimed at increasing verbal problem-solving behaviour, such as setting relevant goals and identifying behaviour likely to result in increased, pleasurable contact with peers, consistent with the attainment of the selected goals. In addition to a number of self-report questionnaire measures, a diary was designed to monitor changes in peer interactions. Individual progress data are presented for 3 adolescents who participated in a 10-week program designed to assist them to develop improved prosocial behaviour with their peers. The data illustrate the importance of accurately determining precise goals for each adolescent and developing a collaborative approach between counsellor and adolescent to ensure that these goals accurately reflect the wishes and needs of the adolescent.

The aim of the MM+ initiative is to build the capacity of secondary schools to ensure optimal mental health outcomes for all students at risk. This is achieved in a number of ways, including early identification, implementation of preventative and early interventions, refining processes, policies and strategies, and encouraging the development of community partnerships. This article will focus on the latter of these strategies: how schools can further develop partnerships with their local community in order to build their capacity to support student mental health. Research indicates that it is beneficial for schools to work with individuals and agencies in the community, as it can result in more resources and services for students than are possible when schools work alone. This article will outline research in the area of building community partnerships including an examination of the types of partnerships, that can be formed and the issues to be considered. In addition, the article will provide a practical discussion of what the MindMatters Plus demonstration schools have learned as a result of their experience in building community relationships.

Starting from the importance and purpose of school counselling, the article highlights the content-methodical specifics and assumptions of effective counselling work with students, and gives a brief overview of the practice of school counselling in Serbia. On that basis, this study aimed at examining school counsellors’ experiences in counselling elementary/primary school children (e.g., reasons for counselling, ways of implementation and difficulties). A sample of 81 school counsellors participated in a semistructured interview. The results show that undesirable behaviour and learning difficulties are the most common reasons for counselling, initiative is mainly coming from teachers or counsellors, and individual work and corrective counselling are more common. The difficulties respondents mentioned mainly related to the students’ personalities. The experiences of practitioners imply that the counselling practice insufficiently appreciates the importance of an integrative-systematic approach in student counselling. In this regard, the conclusion provides some recommendations that could contribute to improving the practice of counselling in schools in Serbia.

Globally, adolescent self-harm rates remain high, while help-seeking behaviour remains low. School staff are in a position to facilitate access to appropriate care for young people who self-harm (YPS-H), but little is known about gatekeepers’ attributions of self-harm or whether these attributions influence the support they provide. This study investigates the perceived functions of self-harm reported by potential gatekeepers and examines how these compare to the self-reported functions of self-harm in young people; 386 students from postgraduate teaching (n = 111), school counselling (n = 37), and undergraduate psychology (n = 238) programs completed a survey regarding their beliefs about YPS-H, which included the Inventory of Statements about Self-Harm. Responses were compared to those of 281 young people attending treatment at a suicide prevention program who completed the same measure. Preservice teachers, school counsellors and psychology students endorsed all functions of self-harm at a higher rate than treatment-seeking young people themselves. In particular, they endorsed interpersonal functions to a greater extent than the clinical reference group. The potential effect of greater endorsement of interpersonal influence as a function of self-harm gatekeeper’s responding to YPS-H is discussed.

Fritz Redl and his colleagues developed sophisticated and effective ways of working with extremely disturbed children – ‘children who hate’. Because this work was done several decades ago, there is the danger that this knowledge will be lost to contemporary counsellors and teachers who have to work with similar children today. The paper outlines the general approaches of milieu therapy and life-space interviews. It summarises seventeen techniques for controlling unacceptable behaviour in ways that do not contradict therapeutic goals and enable these difficult children to be helped.

Confusion exists with regard to the substantive difference between self-concept and self-esteem. In an endeavour to cast some light on this confusion two studies were conducted with 1193 preadolescents using modified versions of two commonly used instruments designed to measure self-concept and self-esteem. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that both these instruments measure specific facets of the same construct, namely self-concept. General or global self-concept proved to be a difficult construct to measure in preadolescent students.

The aim of this research was to examine the effects of the implementation of direct one-on-one supervision in a prominent telephone counselling organisation and the support requirements of their telephone counsellors. Ninety-three telephone counsellors participated in this research. The results showed that more experienced telephone counsellors were more satisfied than less experienced telephone counsellors with the support offered by the organisation. Furthermore, female telephone counsellors showed significantly more satisfaction with the support offered by the organisation than their male counterparts. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the organisation and other helping organisations within the wider community.

This paper reviews consultation between school guidance counsellors and teachers and parents from a self-system psychological perspective. From this perspective factors, such as self-serving bias, self-enhancement, self-verification, sense of control, and stress coping strategies all impact on the consultation process. The paper addresses the challenge of understanding and minimising the negative ramifications of the self-system factors and suggests strategies that can help build a positive professional relationship. The paper explores the interactions between the self-system variables and behaviour so that guidance and school counsellors are in a better position to monitor their interactions and work more effectively with a range of consultees.

Social anxiety is a debilitating problem affecting many life domains, however the aetiology of this anxiety remains unclear. Aside from biological models, learning and, more recently, information transfer have been implicated in the onset of social anxiety. These last are of particular concern to those working with children or adolescents. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the role of early parental style as a casual factor in social anxiety and then to assess the impact of social anxiety on emotional wellbeing, quality of life and relation-ships, and the use of coping strategies. Ninety-five 18-19 year old first year university students (75 females, 19 males) completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (relevant to their first 16 years), the Austin Quality of Life Scale, Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships Scale - Revised, UCLA Loneliness Scale, EAS Temperament Scale, Ways of Coping Checklist-Revised, and a measure of social anxiety suitable for nonclinical samples. Childhood perceptions of reduced care and overprotection from fathers predicted social anxiety (R216 per cent) but maternal style did not. Social anxiety was related to less use of solution oriented coping; greater use of affective-based coping strategies; poorer emotional well-being, quality of relationships and quality of life; and higher levels of loneliness. The importance of the role of the family when working with young adolescents and children is discussed as is the suggestion that early information transfer from peers, siblings, and more importantly teachers are also assessed as predictors of social anxiety. While the present study revealed no association between gender and social anxiety on information transfer, it is suggested that future studies examine separate cohorts of young males and females.

The definition and measurement of counsellor trainee competency is an issue that has received increased attention yet lacks quantitative study. This research evaluates item responses, scale reliability and intercorrelations, interrater agreement, and criterion-related validity of the Professional Performance Fitness Evaluation/Professional Counseling Performance Evaluation, a measure used by counsellor educators to evaluate professional fitness. The results identified several scale items that were insensitive to substandard skill levels and indicated that university and site supervisors' trainee ratings did not agree. Both site and university supervisors did identify a majority of students demonstrating substandard skills, and when the site and university supervisors' ratings were combined, the supervisors identified 79% of the noncompetent trainees.

This research aims to examine the practices of school counsellors working in preschool education towards children’s school adjustment in academic, social, emotional, and behavioural dimensions. The research is a qualitative study with participants consisting of 30 school counsellors working in preschool education. The participants were determined using the criterion sampling method, which is a purposeful sampling method. The data were collected using an interview form with four questions. These data were analysed by content analysis method. It was revealed that the counsellors carried out various practices in academic, social, emotional, and behavioural areas for the adjustment of children to school. It was found that academic adjustment activities were cooperation with the family, individual guidance, and behaviour assessment. Social adjustment activities were social skills activities, group guidance, peer support, and individual guidance. Emotional adjustment activities were individual guidance and cooperation with the family. Behavioural adjustment activities were group guidance, cooperation with the family, individual guidance, school rules, and behaviour assessment.

The use of mindfulness as a tool to improve mental health has received increased attention. Schools provide ideal environments for short-term prevention and skill development for mental health. Further, teachers can promote and reinforce students’ daily use of mindfulness. This study explored the effects of a short-term group mindfulness-based intervention on the mental health of adolescents who have experienced trauma. A total of 49 high school students received a mindfulness-based intervention session followed by homework and teacher reinforcement. The results suggest that a short-term group intervention for mindfulness can potentially improve mindfulness attention awareness and reduce depression and anxiety symptoms in adolescents. As there was no control group, additional research examining the effectiveness of the intervention is essential.