ONLINE FEATURE | Counseling the Challenging Client—Opinion Editorial

By David Luterman

This article is a part of the January/February 2023, Volume 35, Number 1, Audiology Today issue.

I have been teaching counseling for more than 40 years and have given many workshops on the topic. When I ask students, “what client concerns you most?” invariably it is either the angry client or the actively grieving one who is identified as most challenging. 

My introduction to the client who was angry came in graduate school. My mentor, Gene MacDonald, was a clinical psychologist before becoming a speech pathologist. As a graduate student, I accompanied him on several clinics he gave in rural areas. At one clinic, a burly man came in holding an infant who had the characteristics of a child with Down Syndrome. As he was sitting down, he looked at MacDonald and said, “If anybody tells me my baby is retarded, I am going to punch them in the nose!” Nonplused, MacDonald looked at him and said, “You must love her very much,” and the man began to cry. 

At that point, I realized how much pain and caring underlies anger and how important it was to listen deeply to what the client was actually saying. I also think witnessing that encounter became a major impetus for my professional interest in counseling. 

After completing my degree, I was employed by Emerson College to teach audiology and to develop the clinical program. In 1965, I started a program for parents of newly diagnosed children with hearing loss. I facilitated the parent support group and did this for 50 years, retiring in 2015. In the course of my clinical experience, I have encountered many challenging clients.