The easiest way to understand the difference between psychotherapy and counseling is to imagine how the client and the professional approach and navigate the process they share in—much like they were going on a hike together: who leads, and who follows? And how fixed is this role distribution? Put simply, this relationship depends much on how "lost" the client is at the beginning of the process.
Paradoxically, the more unclear a client's situation and their position in it is—where (and how) they are—the more they must be allowed to lead; they first need to come to themselves. This paints a picture where, in therapy, the professional largely follows the client as they explore their life situation until the core problem finally begins to emerge. Only then do solutions become apparent, and with them possible goals.
At this point, when goals and paths towards them can be considered, the relationship starts shifting towards one of counseling. Here, the shared process is more of a side-by-side journey, where sometimes one, sometimes the other, sets the direction, follows, or, at times, refuses to go along with the other. This is how paths and goals are jointly developed and defined. Although, in therapy, the professional is certainly active and involved, holding counsel in a counseling setting is a truly dialogical process, happening at eye level.
To complete the picture, at last, coaching should be mentioned. In this form of personal client work, the client typically works towards a stated personal development goal, often in a specific way provided by the coach, who is often chosen for their goal-specific expertise. Here, the client clearly follows the professional, who points the way towards the client’s goal.
Another way to look at it is that the weighting of the most fundamental ingredients in client work—support and challenge—gradually shifts from primarily support in therapy, to an equal balance in counseling, to mainly challenge in coaching. In practice, however, it is rather the client’s various current concerns and needs that dictate the approach. And since these are often characterized by dynamic change, between them and in and of themselves, the transitions between the three approaches in client work end up being fluid, too. What holds true, irrespectively, is that for a process to be undertaken together successfully, the client must always be met exactly where they are.