Counselling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life, or loss of a sense of direction and purpose. It is always at the request of the client as no one can properly be ’sent’ for counselling.
Counselling or psychotherapy?
It is not possible to make a generally accepted distinction between counselling and psychotherapy. There are well founded traditions which use the terms interchangeably and others which distinguish between them.
Coaching is about getting the very best out of someone and enabling them to make decisions that will improve their life. It is forward-looking - focused in the present and the future. It is practical and down-to-earth, looking at concrete ways to make real progress in the world.
