Counseling is the process that focuses on the relief of distress. Your counselor should be someone with whom you can build trust and openness.You and your counselor will work together to help you cope, adapt and build skills to reduce distress.Together you and your counselor may look at patterns in your life to help you come to a greater understanding of yourself and build newer more adaptive methods of coping. The relationship will be most helpful if your counselor is warm, accepting and authentic.