I think the word 'conselling' covers a wide range of concepts.
On the one hand is the purely 'listening' form, which give an individual a chance to verbalise their thoughts and hopefully reach a conclusion. This is the cornerstone philosophy of The Samaritans.
On the other hand is a profesionally trained counsellor who has experience in getting to the root cause of an individual's issues, usually by careful questioning, with the questioning thread being dictated by the responses received.
I have experence of both, having been a Samaritan for three years, and also receiving counselling after a total breakdown and hospitlisation twenty years ago.
In my experience, the two are very different - one is based on an empathy and desire to asist the individual to rech their own conclusion with minimal guidance and input. The other is far more cathartic and emotionally painful, but it yields results if the individual can last the course.