Counselling is a word many people use to describe therapy in general — but did you know that counselling is actually a specific type of therapy? While both counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) offer valuable support for emotional wellbeing, they take different paths to get there. Understanding these differences can help you decide which approach might be the most helpful for you.

What is Counselling?

Counselling typically offers a space for open exploration and reflection. It’s less focused on achieving specific goals and more about creating time to understand your emotional world — how past experiences, relationships, and patterns may have shaped how you feel today.

Unlike some forms of therapy, counselling doesn’t follow a fixed structure. This can feel freeing if you want to take things at your own pace. It can be particularly helpful for those who need a safe, compassionate space to process complex feelings, talk things through, or reflect on past events. It’s about being heard and understood — and that alone can be incredibly healing.

What is CBT?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a more structured, skills-based approach. Together with your therapist, you’ll work to develop a shared understanding — known as a formulation — of what’s keeping you stuck. This includes exploring how early life experiences may have shaped your core beliefs: how you see yourself, other people, and the world around you.

CBT helps you recognise how these beliefs can lead to patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that might have once served a purpose, but now feel unhelpful or even harmful. For example, someone who grew up feeling unheard may internalise the belief “My needs don’t matter,” which can lead to people-pleasing, burnout, or chronic self-doubt in adulthood.

Through this process, CBT offers practical tools to challenge these beliefs, shift unhelpful thought patterns, and develop more helpful behaviours that align with how you want to live. The aim is not just symptom relief, but long-term change — ultimately helping you become your own therapist.

 

So, Which One is Right for You?

That depends on what you need right now.

While both counselling and CBT are effective treatments for depression and are offered on the NHS, research shows that counselling is not effective for anxiety disorders and, in some cases, may unintentionally maintain anxiety by reinforcing over-reliance on talking without behavioural change.

If you’re seeking a space to talk, reflect, and be heard — without necessarily wanting to make specific changes — counselling might be a better fit. If you’re looking to understand the roots of your patterns and actively work toward change, CBT could be the more appropriate option.

In my experience, many people try one approach and feel it didn’t quite meet their needs — only to find that another style of therapy provides the clarity or tools they were missing. There’s no one-size-fits-all in therapy, and that’s okay. It’s about finding what works for you.

A Note on Qualifications

Whichever approach you decide to explore, it’s essential to work with a qualified, accredited professional. Unfortunately, there are many unregulated practitioners offering therapy without the necessary training or experience.

To ensure you're in safe hands, you can check whether your therapist is registered with an official body:

For CBT therapists: British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP)

For counsellors and psychotherapists: British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)

Taking the time to check credentials can make a big difference — not only to your safety, but also to the success of your therapy journey.