There are a number of strategies that a therapist or nurse should use when offering therapeutic counseling to clients. The therapist should be sensitive to the age of the client, his gender, emotional state, and the main issue disturbing the client ( Cavanagh et al ., 2016) . The paper focuses on the engagement strategy for an 8-year-old boy by the name Guillermo whose mother has been physically abused by the father. As a result, the boy is in DCFS custody due to emotional trauma.
Major Obstacles in Engaging This Client
Compassion is one of the major obstacles in engaging with Guillermo. He is facing the challenge that is most likely out of his control, as he may be feeling neglected. Therapists always have immense compassion, especially when they come across children who deal with heart-wrenching adversity. Nevertheless, compassion is not easy to develop is hard to come by, especially in this case where the boy seems to be out of control ( Cavanagh et al ., 2016) . Children like Guillermo need a lot of love and acceptance in order to be willing to cooperate or change their feelings.
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Another obstacle is knowledge of child development. There is no doubt that many clinicians have knowledge on child development. However, they always resort to their logic and try to make children like Guillermo to see things the way they do. With lack of enough knowledge and development, it may be hard to treat children facing emotional challenge like Guillermo. It is important to know the milestone of Guillermo’s development and interact with him in a way that meets his level of functioning ( Cavanagh et al ., 2016) . Therefore, lack of knowledge of Guillermo development is an obstacle that needs to be overcome.
Self-reflection is also an obstacle, as it may hinder therapeutic environment ( Cavanagh et al ., 2016) . Based on what the client is going through, it is possible to get carried away with emotion and self-reflection, which can lead to unhealthy pattern of interaction with the client. Self-reflection makes a clinician to deviate from objectivity and the need to solve the problem to showing a lot of empathy and remorse to the client.
In addition, there is the obstacle of autonomy of the client. There is a growing concern that children undergoing therapy should be allowed to be part of decision-making. Therefore, Guillermo should be allowed to participate in decisions about his treatment. However, with his age and lack of knowledge in treatment method, it may be challenging for the client to be part of the decision on the treatment method clinician should use. This may be a dilemma for clinician attending to the client.
Finally, Guillermo may refuse to participate in the selected treatment method. He may choose to remain in the corner and refuse to talk with the clinician or follow his instruction. In this circumstance, it may be extremely difficult to help Guillermo come out of his current condition. It may also take a lot of time before he is persuaded to take part in the treatment, which may worsen his conditions.
Clinical Countertransference in Working with the Client
Range is one of the main clinical countertransference that I am likely to encounter when working with Guillermo. I have interacted with a number of children like Guillermo who are suffering from the mistakes are made by their parents. At the same time, some of my friends are undergoing emotional torture because they are being abused by their husbands, which also end up affecting lives of their children. Therefore, because of range, I will feel the sense of bond with Guillermo when I reflect the familiar aspects of trauma from my past experience dealing with such situations. Range is one of the most difficult countertransference that I always come across when dealing with clients like Guillermo because it distracts me from the treatment process. At the same time, it interferes with my rational thinking. Hence, range is a countertransference that is likely to occur in this situation when working with Guillermo ( Prasko et al ., 2010) .
Range is likely to lead to anger when working with the client ( Pollak & Levy, 2000) . Therefore, anger is another clinical countertransference that I am likely to encounter when working with Guillermo. My anger will come from the fact that his father is abusing his mother, making the client to suffer, which should not be the case. At the same time, I am one of the people who detest wife battery. Anger can also interfere with my treatment process and making rational decisions that help the client recover. In addition, in connection to range is empathy. I will sympathize with Guillermo, especially after seeing him undergo emotional torture after the action that has been taken by his father. Like any other clinical countertransference, showing a lot of sympathy to the client can affect the objectivity and rationality in the treatment process. Nevertheless, I would be hard to evade sympathy in this case, particularly because of my past experience with clients like Guillermo.
Finally, Overprotective as a clinical countertransference is likely to occur when working with Guillermo ( Prasko et al ., 2010) . I will have the feeling that the client is not able to make decision on his own and it is my sole responsibility to help and protect him. As a result, I will likely to feel guilty if something bad happens to him. As a result, I am likely to take control of the client and do not give him the opportunity to be independent, especially in decision-making. I will emotionally react with fear and insecurity towards the client.
Literature Review of Engagement with the Client
Child abuse and neglect are some of the unfortunate realities that characterize modern world. The numbers of children who are exposed to violence in their homes have been growing for the last three decade ( Springer et al ., 2003) . Some of the most common child abuse includes physical, emotional, and abandonment. Unfortunately, the effects of child abuse follow them to their children and can end up ruining their entire lives.
Child neglect and emotional abuse is the most commonly reported type of abuse. For instance, it is reported that about 800 cases are reported in North Carolina alone ( Lipovsky & Hanson, 2007) . However, neglect and emotional abuse have received little attention from the concerned authorities and scholars. Neglect and emotional abuse have negative impact on children, especially in terms of physical intellectual, social behavior, and emotional development. Etiology and treatment of neglect theory emphasize the need of effective relationship between the client and therapist.
There is no specific method that can be used to treat neglected and emotionally disturbed children. However, some of the best strategies that can be used to treat children who are neglected and emotionally disturbed include play therapy, medical approach, art therapy, development playgroup, and talk therapy. Play therapy is the most common technique preferred by many therapists when dealing with emotionally abused children, especially those under the age of 11 ( Oaklander, 1997) . Studies have found that it is ideal for young children, as they try to imitate what they have experienced. It helps the child to understand what is right and wrong, and making them to learn healthy coping skills.
For play therapy to be effective, therapist must create supportive and nurturing environment for the child. Affected child must be subjected to a warm, caring and secure environment. It is important for the child to feel cared about and safe when interacting with the therapist ( Eaton, Doherty & Widrick, 2007) . Therefore, it is the role of the therapist to provide non-threatening environment for the child. In addition, treating an abused child requires more than effective listening and talking skills. As a result, it is important for the therapist to use either structured or unstructured play environment.
Medical approach is used by therapists to treat children suffering from stress, depression, feelings of hopelessness, and anxiety. It is important for a therapist to use both medication and counseling approaches when handling children who have been abused. Medication enhances the ability of the abused child to cope with the trauma they have experienced.
Strategy to Engage with the Client
In order to effectively engage with the client, I will first have to address the obstacles that have been identified above. To address the challenge of compassion, I will approach the client and the issues he is facing with unconditional positive regard with the aiming him heal (Bryce, 2015). As a result, I will strive to ensure that he experience acceptance and love to motivate him to change. Secondly, I will enhance my knowledge on child development, especially those around eight years old to avoid using my common logic of handling children who are abused. At the same time, I will strive to remain objective and determined to solve the problem to reduce the negative impacts of self-reflection. In addition, I will enhance the autonomy of the client by explaining the necessary treatment methods so that he can also be part of the process. Therefore, I will first address the obstacle before treating Guillermo.
Secondly, I will address the clinical countertransference that may affect the treatment process and decision-making. The main strategy I will use to solve the problems of clinical countertransference is to remain focus and objective in trying to treat Guillermo. However, I will strive not to use defense mechanisms in addressing the clinical countertransference, as they can inflict secondary traumatization on my client. On the other hand, I will minimization and emotional withdrawal and detachment techniques to address the clinical countertransference that can affect the treatment and healing process.
Finally, I will choose the most appropriate treatment method for the client. Based on the previous studies, play techniques and medication approach are the most suitable treatment methods for my client. Play techniques are suitable for abused children under age 11 like Guillermo who is only 8. Play techniques will enable the client to reenact his abusive experience through playing. It is also suitable in this case because it will enable me to have an idea of what the child experienced and saw. Importantly, I will ensure the availability of warm, safe, and caring environment that will enable the client to heal faster. I will combine medication approach and play techniques to enable Guillermo heal faster and regain normal life.
References
Bryce, M. (2015). What it takes: The Challenge of Helping Emotionally Disturbed Children Heal . Retrieved from http://www.intermountain.org/what-it-takes-the- challenge-of-helping-emotionally-disturbed-children-heal/
Cavanagh, A., Wiese-Batista, E., Lachal, C., Baubet, T., & Moro, M. R. (2016). Countertransference in Trauma Therapy. Journal of Traumatic Stress Disorders & Treatment , 2015 .
Eaton, L. G., Doherty, K. L., & Widrick, R. M. (2007). A review of research and methods used to establish art therapy as an effective treatment method for traumatized children. The Arts in Psychotherapy , 34 (3), 256-262.
Lipovsky, J. A., & Hanson, R. F. (2007). Treatment of child victims of abuse and neglect. Retrieved from http://childlaw.sc.edu/frmPublications/TreatmentforChildVictimsofAbuseandNeglect.pdf
Oaklander, V. (1997). The therapeutic process with children and adolescents. Gestalt Review , 1(4), 292-317.
Pollak, J., & Levy, S. (2000). Countertransference and failure to report child abuse and neglect. Child abuse & neglect , 13 (4), 515-522.
Prasko, J., Diveky, T., Grambal, A., Kamaradova, D., Mozny, P., Sigmundova, Z., ... & Vyskocilova, J. (2010). Transference and countertransference in cognitive behavioral therapy. Biomedical Papers , 154 (3), 189-197.
Springer, K. W., Sheridan, J., Kuo, D., & Carnes, M. (2003). The long ‐ term health outcomes of childhood abuse. Journal of General Internal Medicine , 18 (10), 864-870.
