| Counselor educators and counseling students are oftentimes disconnected from local communities and pragmatic approaches to education (Elliott et al., 2024; Merrell-James et al., 2019; Roth et al., 2019). Counselor educator choice of andragogy precedes and guides curriculum design, teaching style, and underlying educational philosophy, among others things. Andragogical approach also impacts what and whose educational needs an educator decides to prioritize–including the needs of the local community. Place-based education (PBE) has emerged in recent years as a promising, pragmatic approach to counselor development and education (Bright, 2020; Elliott et al., 2024). It draws from environmental education practices to prioritize immersive, community-, and land-based experiences (Yemini et al., 2023). It also emphasizes connection-building, critical contextual awareness, concrete experiencing, and responsiveness to immediate community/environmental needs (Yemini et al., 2023). PBE aligns with many goals and components of andragogies commonly used in counselor education, yet only two published manuscripts to date have explicitly investigated PBE in counseling and counselor education (Bright, 2020; Elliott et al., 2024). This study explored the viability of place-based counselor education (PBCE) as an emergent andragogy. Using Charmaz’s (2014) constructivist grounded theory (CGT) methodology, data was collected from five counselor educators employing PBE techniques within CACREP-accredited programs. The resulting grounded theory of PBCE illustrates the process participants used to successfully implement the andragogy in counselor education settings. It features five categories, 12 subcategories, seven properties, and one context. Primary categories are: encountering, rooting, attuning, aligning, and navigating internal and external constraints. Movement between categories over time results in increased depth in the context of relationship with place. Results indicate that this process promotes personal and professional wellbeing, meaning, fulfillment, concrete community impact, and positive educational outcomes. These findings hold implications for counseling, counselor education, andragogical research, and broader community wellbeing. Keywords: Counselor Education, Place-Based Education, Andragogy, Grounded Theory, Environment |