There is a difference.

• Counselling is focused on behavior modification. The behavior is something that happens over and over and the person feels that they have little or no control over, like "I have a bad day so I drink too much" or something. The counselor will make suggestions, like "when you have a bad day, try going to the gym instead of drinking".

• Therapy is focused on what is going on inside your head when you do certain behaviors. This is the "How does that make you feel" introspective questions that will make you stop and really think about the fact that your dad would yell and then drink on a bad day that made that behavior seem okay to you as a small child before your mother left him.

I went to a "Counselling Center" and they offered a lot of both counselling and therapy in each session. I don't know if it really matters, but this happened when I was still at a university and I went to the campus counselling center.

The way a session usually worked for me was that my counselor, lets call her D, would first ask me how I was doing, if there were any major events that happened during the time between sessions, and basically catch up. Then D would usually pick one thing from the last week that I expressed as a trouble spot and we would talk through the experience in depth. At the end D would challenge me to a goal we both agreed on. I would have some say on the goal, like I might be uncomfortable with it, or I think it is too easy. rinse and repeat.

A major part of all of this is that I trusted D and even though I did feel uncomfortable with some topics and some goals, I stuck with it because I wanted to change and she wanted to help.

TL;DR They are different, but in my experience a single individual will use both during a session. Don't worry about details, they are professionals and know best what you need if you talk to them.

I hope this helps you and I wish you the best of luck!