The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how school counselors described their experience and practice of involving parents when facilitating cognitive-behavioral therapy school-based interventions for students with anxiety and depression, in California. This was considered important. Not only does the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model emphasize parental collaboration as critical for intervention success, that collaboration also aligns with Bronfenbrenner's ecological system theory. Interviewing 10 school counselors from a Southern California school district, with 4 also participating in a focus group discussion, generated 153 single-spaced pages of transcript and 717 codes, of which 401 were unique. Using Braun and Clarke's 6-step approach to thematic analysis, six key themes emerge: 1) collaboration, 2) communication, 3) challenging barriers, 4) parents projected traits, 5) cultural awareness, and 6) building relationships. Collaboration and communication were key in both how school counselors described their experience (RQ1) and practice (RQ2). Challenging barriers and parents projected traits applied directly to counselor experiences (RQ1) while cultural awareness and building relationships were key to finding success in practice (RQ2). The challenges provided opportunities for better training counselors on how to encourage parental involvement. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]