The story of my first client as a therapist in training

I hadn’t been too worried about getting my first client as a therapist in training until that evening when I found out his name. It was the same name as that of a man who had date-raped me six years before. I felt frozen inside, almost violated again, and even more insecure than I had been with the idea of having my first professional counseling experience videotaped. I'd know that at some point I’d have to counsel a man with that name, but I didn’t think it would be soon. Here I was, supposed to be counseling someone from the University’s Introduction to Psychology class, a student who simply wanted extra credit, but instead it was something else entirely.
Soon, of course, I got to know this young man as we spent twelve sessions together, and I found the experience soothing yet troubling. The young man was very gentle and tender, and almost boy-like, which made me feel less anxious, but with time I saw disturbing tendencies as he told me about his life, such as the times had set small fires, broken into buildings, and done other things that made me believe that there was a good chance he had a personality disorder. This made it even more difficult for me to accept his as he was.
But slowly, with time, acceptance came. I learned, over and over again, that this man was not the one that had hurt me and was not responsible for what had happened. I began to accept him as a unique individual and even marvel at the circumstances he'd escaped to become the first in his family to go to college. I realized that his troubles were his own, not those of the man who'd raped me, and I realized that I was a competent young woman able to influence others who didn't need to be troubled by the past.
I still remember him, now again, for the unknowing role he played in helping me get over some awful feelings, and I know that from time to time he remembers me.