This article, and the one that follows (Slaten & Baskin, Contextual School Counseling: A framework for training with implications for curriculum, supervision, practice, and future research), describe an approach to school counseling and an integrated new training framework, titled "Contextual School Counseling" (CSC). CSC is an approach where the contextual perspective of psychotherapy is understood, relied upon, and applied to activities by a counselor within the school environment. The use of CSC will help school counselors to focus on vulnerable and diverse populations. Furthermore, it will add cohesion to an ever-evolving profession whose members are currently trained in core counseling skills but would likely further benefit from an approach and training model with clearer links to the pre-K-12 context.