The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2020 - 32

INTERPRETERS FORUM

BY CRISTINA HELMERICHS

Vicarious Trauma and Interpreters
MEDICAL

(The following was originally published
on the blog of ATA's Interpreters Division,
www.ata-divisions.org/ID/blog.)

In the medical interpreting world,
vicarious trauma has also become
a subject of concern. Some of the
trainings and articles available in this
field include:

he first time I heard of interpreters
experiencing vicarious trauma was
in 2000. First it was mentioned
in relation to the interpreters working
during a trial related to the Balkan
Wars at the International War Crimes
Tribunal in The Hague. But the idea
was quickly expanded to include all
interpreters working directly with
victims of crime and/or medical
patients. Simultaneously, the sign
language community was becoming
acutely aware of the impact of
vicarious trauma on our sign
language colleagues.
Generally, vicarious trauma is
understood to be the emotional residue
of exposure that counselors have from
working with people as they hear
trauma stories and become witnesses
to the pain, fear, and terror that trauma
survivors have endured. According to
the American Counseling Association,
it's important not to confuse vicarious
trauma with "burnout." Interpreters
may be more at risk because they
restate the facts related in first person,
especially when this is combined with a
phenomenon called "receptor fatigue,"
which is a biological response to
overstimulation of one of the senses.
Below, you'll find a listing of
some of the articles, books, trainings,
and other reference material available
on the subject. This is not a complete
or exhaustive review of what's available,
but it seeks to provide a clear sampling
of what is being written and studied.

SIGN LANGUAGE
Here's a sample of the material produced
by the sign language and American Sign
Language community

■

The National Council on Interpreting
in Health Care Trainers Webinar
is free for members or available to
nonmembers for $30. You can find
links to the webinar and slides at
http://bit.ly/NCIHC-webinar.
Lorem ipsum

■

Harvey, Michael A. "Shielding Yourself
from the Perils of Empathy: The
Case of Sign Language Interpreters,"
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf
Education (April 2003), 207-213,
http://bit.ly/Harvey-empathy.

■

Lai, Miranda, Georgina Heydon,
and Sedat Mulayim. "Vicarious
Trauma Among Interpreters,"
International Journal of Interpreter
Education (May 2015),
http://bit.ly/Lai-vicarious.

■

Macdonald, Jami L. "Vicarious
Trauma as Applied to the
Professional Sign Language
Interpreter," Montview Liberty
University Journal of Undergraduate
Research (2015),
http://bit.ly/Macdonald-sign-language.

■

Andert, Olivia L., and Allison P. Trites.
"Vicarious Trauma Among Sign
Language Interpreters: A Pilot Study,"
(Northeastern University, 2014),
http://bit.ly/Andert-study.

■

Lor, Mailee. "Effects of Client
Trauma on Interpreters: An
Exploratory Study." (St.
Catherine University, 2012),
http://bit.ly/Lor-client-trauma.

■

A 2018 presentation by Ludmila
Golovine, "Vicarious Trauma and
Professional Interpreters," is
available as a free webinar on the
California Healthcare Interpreting
Association's YouTube channel:
http://bit.ly/CHIA-Golovine.

■

Knodel, Rebekah K. "Coping
with Vicarious Trauma in Mental
Health Interpreting," Journal of
Interpretation (Registry for
Interpreters of the Deaf, 2018),
http://bit.ly/Knodel-vicarious.

LEGAL
Marjory Bancroft, a specialist in this field,
authored a 40-hour curriculum called Voices
of Love and began publishing a blog in
2015 under the same name. Unfortunately,
that project is not funded and not currently
active, but you can read the blog archives
here: http://bit.ly/voices-love.
There is, however, a 30-hour
curriculum called Breaking Silence,
a training for interpreters working in
victim services, that has a lot of content
for addressing both interpreting for
trauma and managing its effects. A set of
materials by Marjory Bancroft, Katharine
Allen, Carola Green, and Lois Feuerle is
available free for download from Ayuda:
■

Training Manual:
http://bit.ly/Breaking-Silence-manual

Interpreters are a vital part of ATA. This column is designed to offer insights and perspectives from professional interpreters.

The ATA Chronicle | March/April 2020

www.atanet.org

http://www.ata-divisions.org/ID/blog http://www.bit.ly/NCIHC-webinar http://www.bit.ly/CHIA-Golovine http://www.bit.ly/Harvey-empathy http://www.bit.ly/Knodel-vicarious http://www.bit.ly/Lai-vicarious http://www.bit.ly/voices-love http://www.bit.ly/Macdonald-sign-language http://www.bit.ly/Andert-study http://www.bit.ly/Lor-client-trauma http://www.bit.ly/Breaking-Silence-manual http://www.atanet.org

The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2020

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