This textbook is a hands-on guide to counseling clients with a variety of health problems (AIDS, chronic diseases, STDs, athletic injuries etc.). The book utilizes Allen Ivey's Microskills counseling model, which breaks counseling into discrete skills that can be mastered and applied easily. In addition, the examples used to teach the Microskills model are drawn from the 10 leading health indicators identified in Healthy People 2010. Throughout the text the authors discuss how health counseling is related to these indicators and how counselors can address them as part of their work with clients.

The theoretical framework of Ivey’s Microskills model is based on a psycho-educational approach to counseling. Health counseling is a psycho-educational process. It theorizes that to help people manage their health problems counselors must help clients work through any emotional distress associated with them. Helping clients manage their health problems also involves teaching them new information and skills and helping them develop attitudes and values that support and reinforce healthy behavior.