What you use counseling for is up to you and not to be decided for you by your therapist. I have found usually my clients are stuck one way or the other and want help getting things moving again. There are clusters of problems that seem to show up in my office on a regular basis, that is problem situations that many people struggle with. I also am able to help people deal with depression and relationship concerns in general. Once a problem is solved and necessary steps taken to prevent the problem from reoccurring, counseling usually stops.
Some people use counseling regularly for support or ongoing attention to a long term condition.
In this climate of managed care, your insurance company, should you choose to use that coverage, may limit the number of sessions they will pay for. In this way, someone other than you or your counselor may control for you how long counseling lasts. Usually clients come in once a week for the first two or three sessions to get things started and moving along a little faster. After that, baring crises or other intervening circumstances, the regular frequency is a session every other week. Eventually people stop for the time being until counseling is asked for again.