If you’re thinking about becoming a counsellor/psychological therapist, it may be that your reasons for entering this field also apply to other roles that may suit you better. In this post, we take a look at some of the other related roles that you may discover are a better fit for your unique personal attributes. 

Counsellor / therapist

Counsellors and psychological therapists help people understand themselves, process their emotions, and change patterns over time. The role involves:

• Lots of listening, reflecting, and sitting with silence
• Deep emotional material, often unresolved trauma
• Progress is slow and subtle
• You rarely ‘fix’ anything directly
• Strong boundaries and supervision are essential

You’ll like this if you:

• Are patient and steady
• Enjoy depth over action
• Are okay not being needed or praised
• Find meaning in long-term inner change

Watch out if you:

• Need quick wins
• Absorb others’ emotions easily
• Feel responsible for outcomes

Psychologist

There are different areas of psychology but generally psychologists are trained to integrate psychological theory with therapeutic practice, create formulation and draw from a range of different therapeutic models. 

Differences from counselling:

• More formal training and regulation
• Formulation, treatment plans and drawing from a wide range of approaches
• Often more emphasis on evidence-based therapy
• Can work in clinical, academic, or research settings

Good fit if you:

• Like theory, data, and structure
• Want to integrate a range of different psychological theories and therapeutic models
• Enjoy precision as well as empathy

Trade-off:
Longer training, higher responsibility, more paperwork.

Coach (life / executive / performance)

Coaches help generally well-functioning people move forward, set goals, and take action.

What it feels like:

• Future-focused and energising
• More talking, less silence
• You’re allowed to be directive
• Faster feedback and visible progress

You’ll like this if you:

• Love momentum and clarity
• Enjoy asking powerful questions and giving reflections
• Prefer “what’s next?” over “what happened?”

Not ideal if you:

• Want to work deeply with trauma or mental illness

 

Social worker

Social workers support people in real-world crises and systems (housing, safety, access).

What it feels like:

• High emotional intensity and bureaucracy
• Advocacy, case management, crisis response
• Often under-resourced, high demand

Good fit if you:

• Care about justice and systems
• Can tolerate chaos and pressure
• Want tangible, practical impact

Burnout risk: High, unless well supported.

Mentor / advisor

Mentors/advisors share their lived experiences and provide guidance.

What it feels like:

• Relationship-based and informal
• You’re allowed to say “here’s what worked for me”
• Often very rewarding emotionally

Good fit if you:

• Have a specific path or expertise to offer
• Enjoy storytelling and perspective-giving

Limit:
Not suitable for deep psychological work.

Peer support / lived-experience roles

Core role: This type of role involves walking alongside others using shared experience.

What it feels like:

• Deeply human and mutual
• Less hierarchy
• Boundaries can be tricky

Powerful if you:

• Want meaning without clinical distance
• Are comfortable being open about your story

A simple way to tell them apart

Ask yourself which sentence feels most true for you:

• Counselling: “I want to help people understand themselves.”
• Psychology: “I want to assess, formulate and work with people.”
• Coaching: “I want to help people move forward.”
• Social work: “I want to help people survive systems.”
• Mentoring: “I want to help people learn from experience.”

Interested in becoming a counsellor?

If you are interested in training to become a counsellor/psychological therapist, we are currently accepting applications to our diploma course starting in autumn 2026. Find out more here.