INTERPRETING

Through my 30-year tenure in language services, I’ve learned that language industry professionals are not exempt from the profound, enduring effects of vicarious trauma: The emotional residue of exposure to other people’s trauma, their pain, fear, and emotional turmoil. One hundred percent of people exposed to trauma are affected by it, and while 60-70% of people return to normal, language professionals often fall in the category of those who don’t. Consider the story of an interpreter grappling with vicarious trauma years after a distressing crisis. He became the sole linguistic bridge for a Latin American family visiting the US when their child suffered a fatal reaction to a tetanus shot, leading to a heart-wrenching decision to turn off life support. For him, the echo of that decision continues to reverberate, casting a long shadow of guilt and “what ifs,” and his is not an isolated experience.

A 2019 Nimdzi survey revealed that 72.6% of interpreters reported experiencing vicarious trauma at some point in their career, leading every third interpreter to either leave the profession, take a prolonged leave of absence, or avoid certain assignments due to their struggle with vicarious trauma.

These intense emotional landscapes highlight the serious, often overlooked psychological and physical consequences language professionals endure in the course of our work. I personally experienced the effects of vicarious trauma as an interpreter in the late ’90s and early 2000s. The impacts were acute, at one point manifesting physically as I became ill during one assignment and fainted during another. This initially led me to feel isolated and question my mental and professional adequacy. These personal experiences and learning about what other interpreters and translators have gone through were a pivotal first step, propelling me on a journey to raise awareness about vicarious trauma in our industry and share best practices and tools of how to mitigate its effects that I learned in the process.

Seeing the need to address trauma and share tools

Over the last few years, our industry has made a lot of progress in talking about vicarious trauma, providing training and support for language professionals, including developing tools to measure it. Andrea Henry, interpreter and researcher at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, helped develop the “Complexity and Fatigue in Interpreted Encounters” (CFIE) tool that also measures vicarious trauma.

As we learned more about trauma, we felt compelled to address it directly. We developed courses on trauma-informed interpreting and vicarious trauma for language professionals, drawing on the work of many experts in the field. There has been a clear impact on those who have taken these courses, with many showing deep appreciation for strategies they can use before, during, and after challenging assignments. At MasterWord, we supported professionals with strategies to mitigate the effects of trauma through Wellness Connection events, professional collaborations, industry conferences, and freely available online courses and tools.

Addressing trauma head-on

Interpreters often find themselves outside of the support afforded to the very people they work with. Consider the case of a highly professional certified healthcare interpreter who interpreted a multi-day workshop for mothers grieving the suicide of their children. Despite her professional experience, the intensity of these conversations deeply affected her and triggered an enormous stress response as she thought about the well-being of her own child while she worked, something she felt she had to manage in silence. At the end of each day, the interpreter was sent home while the providers who were leading the workshop would stay behind to debrief. Unfortunately, this situation is all too familiar to many, as interpreters often aren’t given the opportunity to debrief, which leads to obvious gaps in support. Establishing policies, procedures, and overall organizational culture that prioritizes mental health to close these gaps is a vital way language companies and industry organizations can address vicarious trauma among language professionals.

A culture that embraces vulnerability during times of trauma, whether experienced directly or indirectly, fosters a sense of connection and emotional support among the team. It serves as a powerful safeguard for well-being and significantly contributes to career longevity in our profession. It’s important to create a place where individuals feel compelled to check in on one another when they notice someone struggling and where resources are readily available for engaging in difficult conversations and managing experiences of stress.

With the implementation of training, best practices, helpful policies, and a supportive culture, we can mitigate the harmful effects of vicarious trauma on language professionals and organizations. MasterWord has embraced this for the last decade, and in June 2023, we met the guidelines of the US Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to become a vicarious trauma-informed organization.

Trauma-informed organizations versus vicarious trauma-informed organizations

A trauma-informed organization is one that understands and recognizes the presence and impact of trauma on individuals and incorporates that understanding into all its services, activities, and interactions. Healthcare organizations and groups who work with survivors of human trafficking and other horrors may qualify as a trauma-informed organization according to the US Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). LSPs, on the other hand, can meet the requirements to become a vicarious trauma-informed organization (VT-ORG) which takes this concept a step further by recognizing the trauma that can be experienced by their staff who work directly with traumatized individuals. In her presentation, Creating a Vicarious Trauma-Informed Organization: Strategies for Success, Dr. Beth Molnar of Northeastern University explains that “a vicarious trauma-informed organization is one that both recognizes the work’s potential negative consequences and proactively addresses its impact through policies, procedures, practices, and programs.”

Having prioritized the mental health and well-being of our interpreters and team members for a long time, we found that we were already mostly compliant with the guidelines laid out for vicarious trauma-informed organizations in the OVC’s Vicarious Trauma Toolkit. We decided to go the extra step and create necessary policies and procedures and implement additional requirements, thereby becoming a vicarious trauma-informed organization.

The work to realize a vicarious trauma-informed industry

As the language services industry evolves, protecting the mental health of those facilitating language and communication access is essential. By promoting vicarious trauma-informed practices, we not only ensure the well-being of language professionals but also enhance the quality of services provided. I invite industry organizations and service providers to join us in this mission, share your insights and experiences, create more training and tools for language professionals, and become vicarious-trauma informed. To help on this journey, we have made vicarious trauma training and tools freely available through MasterWord Institute. Together, as an industry, we can safeguard the mental health of language professionals, making a meaningful difference in the world.

Becoming a Vicarious
Trauma-Informed Organization

1. Educate the Staff: Increase awareness about trauma and its impact on both service recipients and staff.

2. Assess Needs and Resources: Determine the needs of staff and identify resources that can be used to address these needs.

3. Develop Policies and Procedures: Incorporate trauma-informed principles into policies and procedures to guide the organization’s work.

4. Create a Safe and Supportive Environment: Make sure that the environment promotes safety and well-being for both service recipients and staff.

5. Promote Self-Care: Encourage and enable staff to engage in self-care practices to mitigate the impact of vicarious trauma.

6. Provide Training and Supervision: Equip staff with the knowledge and skills needed to work effectively with traumatized individuals and provide supportive supervision.