ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze the health professionals’ perception about counseling in a Centro de Testagem e Aconselhamento em Infecções Sexualmente Transmissíveis (Center for Testing and Counseling in Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and AIDS) in Maceió, Alagoas. Method: it is a qualitative research, with theoretical framework of the Discursive Practices and Production of Senses in the daily life carried out with the participation of 6 counselors. For research material production, the ‘Conversation Round’ technique and the semi-structured script were used. For material treatment the Discourse Analysis method was used, resulting in the production of analysis categories and Dialogic Maps. Results: in the current policies and actions of STI/AIDS, there is centralization in the procedures of anti-HIV testing and displacement of the professional counselor, undoing the testing and counseling. Final considerations: the study indicates the need to overcome the instrumental and prescriptive models of counseling to produce a dialogical process of care and co-responsibility.