Difference Between Counselling and Guidance

What’s the difference between counselling and guidance? People tend to mix both terms because the objectives of guidance and counseling are basically the same: setting a person in the right path through professional advice. The definition of counseling differs greatly from that of guidance, however, and there are even different types of guidance and counseling that sets them further apart. What are those differences, and what’s the actual meaning of both? Your answers lie below!

The main difference between counselling and guidance lies on their procedures and fields of specialty – personal recovery and personal empowerment, respectively – but overall, the objectives of guidance and counselling are the same: guiding a person towards self-development and helping them solve their own problems.

What’s Guidance?

Guidance is a kind of advice which se difference between counselling and guidance eks to help an individual take a course of action and/or overcome an external problem. It’s preventive by nature and is dealt mostly in a more extroverted environment, usually led by a superior in the field you’re seeking help from.

The guiding process aims at making individuals aware of the rightness and wrongness of their actions – basically, the importance that decisions play in one’s life – and assisting them in selecting the best course of action for them. The main objective of guidance is to develop self-empowerment.

Guidance Applies Mostly to Students and Educational Environments

What’s Counseling?

Counseling can be defined as a talking therapy, where patients discuss freely their problems and feelings, and are aided by professional therapists who help them deal with their personal issues and other reasons for therapy.

The process aims to discuss any socio-psychological problem the individual’s currently facing and resolve it via intimate discussions, where the counselor listens with empathy and discusses the patient’s problems in a confidential environment. This is a therapy that lasts for many days.

Counseling doesn’t just give advice or makes judgements out of nowhere: it helps patients see the roots of their problems and identify potential solutions to them. That’s why counseling is mostly found in health-related environments.

What Are Their Main Differences?

As you could have noticed, both guidance and counseling are similar in their approaches – in the way they impart advice and help their clients. However, there are significant differences between both of them, which are the following:

Guidance is given by a superior of the field who seeks to help his/her client overcome an external, profession-related difficulty. Counseling, on the other hand, is given by a therapist who aims to solve the client’s psychological issues.
Guidance hopes to prevent problems, whereas counseling helps you recover from them.
Guidance looks for the best alternative for the client’s professional path. Counseling, however, hopes to change the perspective of the client for the best.
Guidance is a comprehensive process with an external approach, usually found in educational and career-related environments. Counseling is an inward analysis of the problem that deals with the client’s personal issues until he/she knows how to solve them.
Guidance is open and can be given to an individual or a whole group, but counseling is a private one-to-one talk that must remain in complete secrecy.
Guidance ultimately takes the decision for the client, in contrast to counseling, where the therapist empowers the client to take decisions on their own.

So, to sum it up…

What is the difference between group guidance and group Counselling?

Guidance steers a group towards an anticipated outcome through advice. Counseling, on the other hand, hopes to facilitate an open, healthy communication between members of the group.

What are the types of counseling?

As a psychological oriented therapy, counseling covers a wide range of socio-psychological issues, including marriage and family, rehabilitation and mental health issues via psychotherapy and other methods.

Bottom Line

As a conclusion, the main difference between counselling and guidance lies on their procedures and fields of specialty – personal recovery and personal empowerment, respectively – but overall, the objectives of guidance and counselling are the same: guiding a person towards self-development and helping them solve their own problems. Understandably so, the definition of counseling and guidance may overlap every now and then because of their similarities, but by just checking the diverse types of guidance and counseling such as marriage counseling and more, you can see they focus on completely different fields. Regardless of this, both processes attempt to solve the clients’ problems in one way or another, so, although unalike in definition, they’re both equally important in a person’s life.