SOS- manipulative client

Hello all. Without going into too much detail, I’ve recently come to realized a client I’ve had for the past year has manipulated me quite extensively. I’ve been out of school and regular supervision since 2018. This is a first.

They’re somewhere on the cluster b spectrum. This was not disclosed at any point. The signs were there, I’m seeing now, pretty early on. Will never dismiss warning signs like this again.

But in the past few months the signs are glaring and this individual has started talking more explicitly regarding their manipulations, towards me and others. Leading up to when they started openly talking about these behaviors was a court date for a divorce.

After they successfully got what they wanted in that situation the true colors started bleeding out.

Once I realized I’d been bamboozled, without showing that in any way, I moved to referring out. They manipulated again and begged to not be moved. Malpractice and supervisor are saying they must be referred immediately, this is way out of my scope.

Certain they’ll cause all manner of problems when I inform them it’s not an option to continue working together anymore. Have a reason beyond the Machiavellian level of manipulations that have taken place, I don’t plan to disclose what I am truly seeing. Don’t think it matters tho.

Basically preparing for the worst, hoping for the best. Has anyone ever found themselves in a similar situation? What did you do? How did it turn out? Any tips for protecting myself professionally?

And please do easy on me, this group can be vicious. This is a horrible situation I’ve learned a lot from. Always gotta learn the hard way.

TIA.