Counselling can be helpful with personal development, addressing and resolving specific problems, making decisions, coping with a crisis, developing personal insight and knowledge, working through feelings of inner conflict or improving relationships with others.

The counsellor's role is to facilitate your work in ways which respect your values, personal resources and capacity for choice within your own circumstances. In addition, counselling is a deliberately undertaken 'contract' with clearly agreed boundaries and commitment to your privacy and confidentiality. It requires open and informed agreement, so you can see how the process is likely to operate. This sets it apart from an ordinary talk with a friend or colleague.