This handbook examines policy research on school counseling across a wide range of countries and offers guidelines for developing counseling research and practice standards worldwide. It identifies the vital role of counseling in enhancing students’ educational performance and general wellbeing, and explores effective methods for conducting policy research, with practical examples. Chapters present the current state of school-based counseling and policy from various countries, focusing on national and regional needs, as well as opportunities for collaboration between advocates and policymakers. By addressing gaps in policy knowledge and counselor training, the Handbook discusses both the diversity of prominent issues and the universality of its major objectives.

Topics featured in this handbook include: 

• The use of scoping reviews to document and synthesize current practices in school-based counseling. 
  
• Contemporary public policy on school-based counseling in Latin America.
  
• Policy, capacity building, and school-based counseling in Eastern/Southern Africa.
  
• Public policy, policy research, and school counseling in Middle Eastern countries. 
  
• Policy and policy research on school-based counseling in the United Kingdom.
  
• Policy research on school-based counseling in the United States.
  

The International Handbook for Policy Research in School-Based Counseling is a must-have resource for researchers, graduate students, clinicians, and related professionals and practitioners in child and school psychology, educational policy and politics, social work, psychotherapy, and counseling as well as related disciplines.