Self-care strategies of professional community interpreters

Abstract

Previous studies on affective dimensions of interpreting suggest that the emotionally-charged conversations or complex topics encountered by interpreters in community settings may be stressful and emotionally taxing, leaving interpreters prone to vicarious trauma and retraumatization. The assumed psychological risk associated with these conditions may point to the importance of self-care in community interpreting practice and its role in building interpreters’ resilience. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 20 professional community interpreters, this article aims to identify self-care strategies adopted in community interpreting. By using Posluns & Gall’s (2020) framework, we focus on six main self-care domains, i.e., awareness, balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality. The study documents how community interpreters utilize self-care practice to mitigate stress inherent in the profession.

Dealing with emotionally challenging cases in public service interpreting: Interpreter experience and the need for self-care training

“…Unlike professionals such as psychologists and social workers, a standard peer support and consultation practice has not been established among interpreters (Anderson, 2012). To address emotional disturbance from their work, interpreters adopt multiple coping strategies (Bontempo & Malcolm, 2012;Korpal & Mellinger, 2022). In Lai and Costello's (2021) study on Australian community interpreters, some interpreters reported the use of alcohol, oversleeping, disengaging socially, and wishful thinking to distract themselves from empathic engagement, while others chose more engaging or positive strategies.…”

“…In Lai and Costello's (2021) study on Australian community interpreters, some interpreters reported the use of alcohol, oversleeping, disengaging socially, and wishful thinking to distract themselves from empathic engagement, while others chose more engaging or positive strategies. Korpal and Mellinger (2022) discover that professional community interpreters in their study adopted various self-care strategies such as physical exercises and social support to mitigate work-related stress. Crezee (2015) suggests psycho-social self-care measures, including turning down assignments, getting rest, spending personal time on hobbies and with friends and family, practising mindfulness, having a healthy and balanced diet, and doing regular exercises to help interpreters overcome occupational burnout and stress.…”

“…As Green et al point out, interpreter training "may not have included developing awareness of the needs for emotional self-care that is usually part of a therapist's training" (2001, p. 6). Accordingly, there has been a call from researchers and practitioners to provide and include formal training in the interpreter education curricula (e.g., Bontempo & Malcolm, 2012;Korpal and Mellinger, 2022).…”

Preventing vicarious traumatisation in mental health settings: a training course for interpreters

“…As far as our educational content is concerned, the next stage will be to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed strategies through action research, which involves developing tools to measure it. From a broader perspective, the needs of interpreters and the coping strategies they spontaneously implement can be investigated in different countries (Mehus & Becher, 2016;Korpal & Mellinger, 2022). On the one hand, this empirical data could be used to inform training, and on the other hand, it would help to identify the specific features encountered in different working environments, and thus raising the question of the transferability of self-regulation techniques.…”

“…In order to break this vicious cycle, it is crucial to raise interpreters' awareness of the emotional risks of their work and to develop their self-care strategies (e.g., Crezee et al, 2015;Korpal & Mellinger, 2022). While nurturing oneself should be a priority rather than a luxury (Bontempo & Malcom, 2012, p. 119), training on this topic remains scarce (Costa et al, 2020).…”