counselling

1. 1
   therapynoununcountable

   Help in working through personal difficulties, especially from a trained professional.

   Families caught up in the fire were offered counselling by the local NHS trust.

   The couple tried a course of counselling before deciding to separate.

   UsageUsually with no a: have counselling, go to counselling, or a course of counselling for a set of sessions.

   Similartherapy

2. 2
   advisingverb

   Present participle and gerund of counsel. British spelling; the US spelling is counseling.

   Doctors are counselling patients to stay at home if they feel unwell.

   Her advisers were counselling caution in the weeks before the vote.

   UsageYou counsel someone to do something, or counsel a course of action such as caution or patience.

   Note

   British spelling doubles the l of counsel before -ing and -ed (counselling, counselled), where American English usually keeps one. The form works as a present participle, as in doctors counselling patients to stay at home, and as a gerund naming the act of advising. The noun for professional help, listed separately on this page, shares the spelling.

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