Penni,
Sounds like your friend is more disappointed in himself than you. He wrote what he did because he wanted someone like you to find what he wrote. He thought you could handle it. You couldn't, and that is that. Will you ever be able to? May be not.

Now, should you have gone to your councilor? You now know the answer to that. Did it help things with your friend? You may never know. Boys have a harder time with things like this. They don't want a group hug. And they find it hard to talk about it. But most of all they don't want a confrontation. Boy's hate confrontation. Most of all they do not want a confrontation. I don't know why chicks always want to confront their issues. Boy's just don't. And that's what parents do. They confront you.

Here's what works with boys. One on one. And misdirection. You get to somewhere completely private and you have to find some sort of thing to do other than discuss what's on your mind. I know that sounds strange, but do somthing phisical, anything. Work on a puzzle in the library. Flick a paper football back and forth. Look for a book on the shelf. Then you talk. Prepare what you are going to say and don't expect any specific answer. Don't get emotional about YOURSELF, "That really freaked me out!" Don't judge, "Do you know what that sounds like?"

Be non committal. "I read what you wrote and it sounds like you are very depressed." He won't answer you right away. That's okay. That's why you have a puzzle or some project. He can work on that and collect his EMOTIONS. Don't egg him on -just assume he will comment and give him a chance to look away and compose himself. That is what being non confrontational is about. And that is how the conversation should go.

You can ask: "Do you want to talk about what you're feeling" "Do you have a plan?" "Has something happened to you recently?"

If you can't do this, then you can't. Simple as that. And you went to the councilor and did the right thing. That's okay and you can tell your friend that you didn't know what else to do.