You accept a referral from an agency on 65-year old male client. During the initial interview you learn he has been physically abusive to his wife of 40 years and he appears very depressed. He relates that two of his children will not talk to him and did not call him for his birthday this year. You quickly find you dislike this client intensely and have difficulty feeling any empathy for this client and his situation. That evening after the session you realize he reminds you of your spouse’s step-father who was abusive to your spouse during their childhood. You should…

Let your supervisor know how you feel, why you feel the way you do and how it might affect your interactions. Then, work with your supervisor on how you can either use this awareness to help the interactions with your client or whether you need to be replaced by another social worker. There will be clients you can work with and clients that ‘trigger you’ in ways that make therapeutic interactions impossible. This type of a reaction is due to the human condition. Don’t run from it.
Share your feelings with the client is INCORRECT. This answer falls under the category “Nothing good will come of this…” The best you can hope for, is the client will understand your feelings and agree with you, but it will not establish any rapport and will probably build up a rather severe adverse reaction to you and your attempts at therapy. It would also bring up ethical issues, as the client is not responsible for how you feel and it is inappropriate to burden them with your issues.
Accept your feelings as part of the therapeutic process when working with abusers is INCORRECT. While you have to accept your feelings as part of any therapeutic process, the key ingredient is the level of consciousness you maintain in relation to your issues. You must be aware of your feelings as it will guide you during therapy, but you cannot let them control you. This type of situation was custom made for a clinical supervision staffing or a discussion with a colleague.
Continue your sessions with the client and ignore your feelings is INCORRECT. The old ‘bury your head in the sand and hope it goes away’ trick. Not very useful, although you will see it used by many of your clients. NEVER ignore your feelings. This is the short path to malpractice, ethical violations and worse. Always have someone you can talk to. No one is strong enough to handle all situations alone.