Information About Adolescent Depression

Introduction
My community project was to gather information about adolescent depression and provide this information to students, families, and faculty at the local junior high schools. The awareness of adolescent depression seemed to be very limited. The need to provide this kind of information to the local junior high schools is crucial because of the unseen students who may have this kind of problem and do not know how to deal with or know where to get information.

This project was inspired one day while I was at my internship at a local junior high school. I was shadowing my supervisor as she was seeing students. One of her students came into the office with tears. The student sat down and started to explain to us why she was so upset as tears ran down her cheeks. After the student left my supervisor and I had a debriefing. The student clearly was sad and depressed, but we as social workers and counselors could not diagnosis this due to our educational status. We could, however, provide an opportunity for her to share her feelings. To my amazement, I realized that the local community was not yet aware of how this certain student felt. To accomplish this goal, I decided I would gather information that I would want the community to know and present it in a brochure. With that resource, I could then present the topic of adolescent depression to schools including teachers, students, and family members.

Statement of Need
There is not a great deal the public and people know about adolescent depression. Did you know that suicide is the third leading cause of death in adolescents (March, 2004)? The most common reason why adolescents commit suicide is because of depression (March, 2004). From what I have gathered from interviews at my internships, I have learned that people in administrative positions did not think that adolescent depression was a problem (Personnel Communication, October 17, 2005). School counselors did report that adolescent depression as a major problem and stated it should be addressed immediately to prevent any issues or events in the future (Personnel Communication, October 1, 2005).

Description of the Intervention
I started out with this community project excited and hopeful. However, organizing the information of adolescent depression was harder than I expected. After a slow start and a lot of research, I finally found some useful information that I could put into the information packet. I had to decide on what to use and what not to use. The decision of how to make my information packet easy for students to read and understand was also a challenge.

Students at this age interpret things said and what they see differently than adults. I had to think back to when I was at that age and figure out how I could put an information brochure together to make it interesting and useful at the same time. I decided on a brochure with headings and topics that would stand out to the interest of students. I use simple words and paraphrased the information from my research into words that students could comprehend. It was difficult because it was like translating into another language. I did not have the time or the resources to translate the brochure into Hmong and Spanish as I had planned. It would take a great deal of effort and time to try and to that. I could not afford to lose any time, so I decided that I would keep the brochure in English.

Another major problem that I came upon was due to the different scheduling of Chico State University’s spring break and the local junior high schools' spring break, along with the school holidays. This made it difficult to schedule a time to go into classrooms and present the information I had found. Another thing that added to this problem was that my hours for internship were split between the two junior high schools. At each school I had other responsibilities that I was in charge of other than my community project. I had a very limited time schedule at both schools. Therefore, I was unable to go into classrooms to present the information that I did find.

Evaluation of the Intervention
The intervention part of this community project was somewhat successful, but I view areas for improvement. The information I gathered into the brochure could be useful to anyone, students, faculty, parents, and families of the students. It should widen the knowledge of what adolescent depression is and could give students clues to look for and provide resources for students who are in need of it. I had information that I could present, but the fact that I did not have time to present was set back.

I did, however, provide the information packet in the counseling offices to offer as a resource for the students, teachers, faculty, and family. The brochures are now available to inform anyone if they needed some answers about adolescent depression or if they have an interest in it. This informal way of presenting the information makes it available at any time to those in need of help including resources.

Reflections on the Project
This community project was a very fun and exciting experience. There was so much that I thought I could do that I somewhat overwhelmed myself. I thought that I could have enough time to do everything I had planned, but I overlooked all the other things in my life that would come into affecting the time I spent on my community project. As a future reference, time management and planning would be a crucial part in forming a flexible plan that would allow other opportunities for a different course of action plan if the first plan failed. I think this community project was good, but it could have gone better. I am disappointed that I did not get to present the information to the classes. I was really excited about this aspect. It would have given me a great opportunity to do something I had never done before. But, that opportunity could not be done due to the time limit. From this experience I learned that I cannot do everything as planned. As a future social worker, it is a great lesson to learn and this one will be one that I remember.

References
March, J. (2004). NIMH research on treatment for adolescents with depression study (TADS): combination treatment most effective in adolescents with depression. Retrieved September 10, 2005, from htt://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinfomation/tads.cfm