The short answer to this question is no. A counsellor is neither a psychologist nor a psychiatrist. Counsellors help individuals by building a trusting and healing relationship with their client. There are many different ways this can happen, and counsellors need to be extremely versatile in their practice. But counsellors have not trained as medical doctors like a psychiatrist.
While some psychiatrists will offer talk-based therapies (the classic ‘couch’ so common in Hollywood representations of therapy), for the counsellor, this talk and communication is the cornerstone of their approach. This allows for an intimate understanding and an exploration of issues and is carried out in a safe and comfortable environment (but not the clichéd couch!)
Because of their medical background, psychiatrists can prescribe pharmaceutical interventions. Counsellors will be aware of the role of psychiatrists and can refer their clients to a GP for further medical assessment if needed. Counsellors also draw heavily on the sciences of psychology and neurology to understand the individual’s situation but, despite providing psychotherapies, counsellors are not psychologists.
Psychology will often lean toward a broad, population-focussed understanding of mental health. In fact, psychology is broken into many and varied fields, from commercial psychology, which tries to predict which toothpaste you’ll buy, to sports psychology, and much more.
Many psychologists will use psychotherapies in ways very similar to counsellors, and many professional counsellors have a strong psychology background. But there is a lot of the field of psychology that isn’t relevant to the role of a counsellor.
Are counsellors in high demand?
Because professional counsellors are adaptable and affordable, they are in high demand and can therefore establish a strong practice. The more adaptable and more widely trained a counsellor is, the more they can offer, and the more they can earn.
What’s it like working as a counsellor?
Counselling is focussed entirely on an individuals need, and counsellors work with clients to create their own personal program for growth and change. With good training, counsellors learn to tailor therapy to the individual client using their knowledge base of many different models of therapy, which means that the counsellor’s job is always different and full of variety - as different as every individual they work with.
