Whereas psychotherapy might be thought of as a longer term exploratory endeavour, counselling is sometimes considered to be a shorter term process that will often have a defined focus.  People may come with a specific problem, issue or experience they wish to discuss and receive support with and only require a relatively small number of sessions in order to feel they have resolved the problem or reached the understanding they were seeking.

Typically counselling might occur over 6-12 sessions and then the therapy comes to an end.  It is not unusual however for people to find themselves speaking about additional underlying concerns and realising they have more they wish to explore than their initial presenting problem. In these instances, the individual may choose to continue in therapy or return at a later date.

Short-term counselling is available to those who feel this is what they require.