Many people who have perhaps face emotional or mental health issues may have counselling suggested to them as a means of dealing with those problems. Yet it is perhaps something that the ordinary man or woman in the street may have little experience of. Additionally as a result of the stigma that sometimes follows mental health issues around, it feels different asking your neighbour if they know a good counsellor or if they know a good dentist.
Perhaps the question that is uppermost in your mind if counselling is suggested is how effective is counselling and will it help me. Is counselling as effective as medication or is it all smoke and mirrors? Fortunately there is now a significant body of research into counselling using randomised control trials and practiced based research. Bodies like BACP have summaries of the research on their website here http://www.bacp.co.uk/admin/structure/files/pdf/12228_research%20evidence%20summary.pdf
The research has shown that counselling is effective in reducing the distress of those attending counselling to a wide range of conditions including mental illness. Further that while counselling approaches vary all show improvement.
Of course as well as knowing that counselling works you should take steps to ensure that you counsellor is qualified and that they are a member of an appropriate professional body such as the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy [BACP] so that there are appropriate standards applied to the treatment that you will receive and that there is re-dress if you believe you have been treated unethically.
Counselling is a process and that process requires change so different people progress at different rates, the counsellor can be with you on the road to change and help with the navigation, but you are in the driving seat with accelerator, brake and steering wheel.
The simplest way to find out if counselling will help you is to talk to a counsellor. A good counsellor will be happy to talk to you about the process of counselling and what you might expect, they will be happy to show you their qualifications and can help you check on their registration etc. Beware any counsellor who is reluctant to have that discussion or who promises you a cure.