improving the quality of mental health interpreting in victoria

vi. Work Scope and Environments
At present there are no specialist services providers or specialist ‘mental health interpreters’
in Victoria. The only remnant of the specialised mental health interpreting services can be
found within services offered by VITS. Incorporated within VITS LanguageLink are specialist
services catering to the Legal, Health, Mental Health, Education and Community fields.
When the former specialist services (Mental Health Interpreting Service and Central Health
Interpreter Service) ceased operation, many of the interpreters were integrated into VITS.
These former ‘specialist mental health interpreters’ are now considered by VITS as
specialist interpreters for bookings in mental health settings 15 . This group is relatively small,
and as time passes fewer with this valuable experience are in the interpreting workforce.
Without ongoing mental health interpreting training for newcomers, the number of
experienced and competent mental health interpreters is decreasing. Consequently many
services can rarely access a skilled interpreter in mental health interpreting, and for some
language groups they are non-existent.
Experience and expertise as a professional interpreter is consider a minimum requirement
for training in mental health interpreting. Yet as there are no training programs or well
considered system for recognising trained and experienced interpreters, there are presently
no criteria or standards for checking the effectiveness and appropriateness of interpreters
working in mental health settings.
Furthermore, because the practice of using interpreters is still largely ad hoc in many
settings, frequently little attention is paid to the skills and competency of any given
individual called on to interpret, meaning that the different skills and competencies of an
L2 and L3 interpreter, for example, are not measured or understood. The accredited
‘interpreter’ (L3 or ‘professional’) level should be used for all mental health interpreting
situations. However, in some languages (eg, newly emerging demand languages) only
‘paraprofessional’ interpreter level interpreters may be available.
Mental Health Interpreting as a Specialised Training Area
It has been recommended that mental health interpreting should be seen as a specialised
training area, above the general competencies required for professional interpreting. Yet,
although Victoria has had ‘mental health interpreters’ in the past who were given a
specialised title reflecting their speciality, current thinking about mental health interpreting
as a specialised training area implies that interpreters should be offered the opportunity to
gain the appropriate skills to be able to work well in mental health settings, without
necessarily becoming part of an exclusively specialist field. In the present situation, there is
a need firstly to make training in mental health interpreting available to prepare
interpreters to be competent in working effectively in specific mental health settings, or in
other settings where mental health issues may be present.
15
See:http://www.vits.com.au/services.htm
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