If you search for online counselling jobs, you will find two kinds of work. In the first, an organisation hires you or lists you and sends clients to you. In the second, you run your own practice and find your clients yourself. Both are real work, and neither is the right one for everyone.
This guide lays out the differences so you can choose, or combine them, with open eyes. It describes how each model usually works. The terms of any specific job are in its offer or contract, so read that before you decide.
Platform jobs: how they usually work
A platform or organisation finds the clients, and you take the sessions. You may be salaried, with fixed hours and a monthly pay, or paid per session. The platform generally sets the price clients pay and the rate you earn, and the client relationship sits with the platform.
The benefit is that you do not have to find clients, build a page or handle payments. You can start seeing people sooner, which helps early in your career or when you want steady hours. The costs are less say over price, session length and who you see, and clients may not follow you if you leave.
Your own practice: how it works
In your own practice, you set the fee, decide who you work with and keep the client relationship. A client who likes working with you stays with you, wherever you are.
In return, you carry the work around the sessions: a page, booking, payments, reminders, consent forms, tax and finding clients. Income can be uneven at first. It builds as your reputation grows and you gain regular clients.
Questions to ask about any job
Ask who sets the session fee and what share of it you receive. Ask when and how you are paid, and whether payment depends on a client attending. Ask whether you can see clients outside the platform, and whether a non-compete or non-solicit clause applies if you leave. Ask who holds the session records and what happens to them when you leave.
Ask also what supervision and support you get, how many sessions a week are expected, and whether you are an employee or an independent contractor. That affects tax, and a CA can explain how in your case.
You can do both
Many counsellors take a part time role for steady income and build their own practice alongside. Check your contract first, since some limit outside clients. Keep your own page and booking link in order, so people who ask for you can find you.
Over time, you may move the balance. A year of platform sessions teaches you what clients ask for and where you are strongest. That helps when you write your own page.
Where Leshya fits
Leshya is not a job board. You set up your own page, set your own fee and take your own clients. Clients pay when they book, and you decide your hours.
Plans and pricing are on the counsellor page.
Common questions
Yes. Organisations and platforms hire or list counsellors, either salaried or paid per session. Read the offer for the fee split, notice period and any limits on outside clients.
