Received: 6 November 2023 Revised: 3 January 2024 Accepted: 4 January 2024 DOI: 10.1002/jcad.12507 SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE Theory-informed school counseling: Increasing efficacy through prevention-focused practice and outcome research Hyunhee Kim 1 Citlali E. Molina 2 Jennifer S. Watkinson 3 Katheryne T. Leigh-Osroosh 4 Dan Li 5 1 Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA 2 Department of Psychology and Counseling, University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, USA 3 Department of Education and Specialties, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA 4 Department of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology, University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA 5 Department of Health Promotion Sciences, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA Correspondence Hyunhee Kim, Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 506 Bailey Education Complex 1126 Volunteer Boulevard Knoxville, TN 37996-3452, USA. Email: hkim103@utk.edu Abstract School counselors are front-line providers to K-12 students in the areas of learn- ing, mental health, and career development, based on their foundation in prevention, development, wellness, and social justice. Although school counseling remains an important role within K-12 schools, the profession faces existential threats to its continued existence due largely to the lack of applied outcome research validat- ing its positive impact on student development. This conceptual article has two aims: (a) to reassert the unique importance of school counselors as a prevention provider who promote wellness, development, and social justice and (b) describe how theory-informed school counseling practice is a solution using Advocating- Student within Environment theory as an example. Implications for scholarship, training, and practice are described. KEYWORDS development, school counseling, school-based prevention, social justice, wellness Over two decades ago, Whiston (2002) offered a warning, stating, “unless more emphasis is placed on documenting the effectiveness of school counselors, school counseling pro- grams can easily be eliminated in these times of budgetary constraints (p.154).” In the years after, school resources remain tenuous and yet analyses of the school counseling lit- erature suggest that there continues to be a lack of school counseling outcome research (Griffith et al., 2019; Kim et al., in press). For example, Griffith et al. (2019) discovered that only 53 school counseling outcome research articles (0.8%) were published in 21 journals affiliated with the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) over the 10-year period from 2006 to 2016. Assumingly, the dearth of school counsel- ing outcome research has provided fodder for the exclusion and misrepresentation of the profession, posing an existential threat to its advancement and existence. Accompanying the lack of robust empirical support, issues such as role ambiguity and conflict also challenge © 2024 by the American Counseling Association. the profession of school counseling (Beames et al., 2022; Chandler et al., 2018; Lambie et al., 2019; Ruiz et al, 2018). There exists a core debate regarding professional identity that revolves around whether school counselors should act as counselors or educators (Cinotti, 2014; Levy & Lemberger- Truelove, 2021). For example, the ASCA (2019) national model has been criticized for perpetrating unintended con- flicting priorities, such as how to address students’ mental health needs versus prioritizing delivery systems that focus chiefly on students’ educational success (Ellington et al., 2023; Lambie et al., 2019). To address this issue, we advocate for the concept of nondual identity as an educator-counselor or an educator who is oriented by counseling, as proposed by Levy and Lemberger-Truelove (2021). Being situated in schools, school counselors are uniquely positioned to support students’ educational needs and deliver preventa- tive and developmental services that promote wellness and social justice outcomes (Lemberger-Truelove & Bowers, 2019; Wachter Morris et al., 2021). Reshaping the narrative 226 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jcad J Couns Dev. 2024;102:226–238.