Every counselor–client interaction is an opportunity for mutual learning through inquiry, listening, exploring, and understanding about a client's experiences with development and well‐being. Given the convergence of multiple sociopolitical events and systems that impact mental health and well‐being, we issue a call to increase promotion and uptake of preventative mental health strategies by assessing the social determinants of mental health (SDMH) in counseling practice. We contend that counselors are uniquely prepared to assess the SDMH at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental levels. Therefore, we review the parallels between counseling frameworks and the SDMH with the aim of explaining why and how counselors should assess the SDMH. Specifically, we describe ways that counselors can use their foundational skills and expertise in assessment procedures to identify client needs, as well as potential individual and community interventions. We outline a four‐phased approach for assessing the SDMH in counseling practice and provide implications for improving counseling outcomes.

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This study employs logistic regression and latent class analyses to explore the relationship between incarcerated women's (n = 252) participation in nonacademic prison groups/skills classes and their demographic (e.g., education) and prison context (e.g., time to release) characteristics, using the 2014 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies United States prison dataset. Time to release was a significant factor in readiness class participation. Time to release and race/ethnicity were significant factors in addiction group participation. Education level had the largest effect size across all groups/classes explored. We discuss counseling implications for using group/class screening to connect with incarcerated women, especially those with intersecting and historically marginalized identities.