Interpreters: We Need to Put Our Mental Health Front & Center

I’m an admin or moderator of a number of professional communities for interpreters. There have been a lot of valuable lessons learned over the past few years from the thousands of interpreters, primarily medical interpreters, both at home in the U.S. and abroad, remote interpreters, in-person interpreters, and everyone in between who participate in these groups. Over the past few years there’s been a noticeable shift in the discourse in these groups, and sometimes even a lack of discourse in some groups that is just as telling. Labor issues have become increasingly commonplace, and we just don’t talk about our mental health.

I am of the firm belief that the former has a tremendous effect on the latter, yet it is rarely framed as such. We talk about being overworked and underpaid, but we rarely seek support for how these things affect our mental health. We are always on the lookout for better paying jobs that don’t overwork us, but often we settle for less, usually due to circumstances that are either truly outside of our control, or circumstances we feel we have no control over. Oftentimes our mental health not only affects our search for better opportunities within the language services profession, but also our ability to leave downright abusive jobs behind.

Interpreter & Translator Peer Support Group

One of the groups I run on Facebook is called Interpreter & Translator Peer Support Group. It’s designed to be a space for folks in the language services profession to give and seek support for their mental health and wellness as it relates to the unique challenges of their role. It’s a private group, so of course I am not at liberty to share any specifics here about what things are discussed, but I will say this: labor issues are by and large the most discussed topic in the group. Occasionally interpreters will discuss difficult subject matter they’ve had to interpret, the stress of impending exams or quality assurance reviews, but when discussions occur, they’re often framed around labor issues.

Other online communities for interpreters are flooded with job postings, questions about best practices, people looking for work, and so many other topics that are incredibly relevant to interpreters. But, a very small percentage of the many many pending posts I sift through per day are related to interpreter mental health. This is likely not because interpreters don’t struggle with their mental health, but rather because interpreter mental health is so low on our list of priorities.

This is not a criticism. One clear conclusion can be drawn from the many conversations I’ve had privately with countless interpreters, and that’s that they do care about their mental health, and they care deeply about it. Most people in these conversations have expressed that they have been forced to push their mental health to the side in an effort to make ends meet. But with so many things competing for our time, attention, and energy, our mental health hardly ever takes priority. People certainly do care because whenever one of our Interpreter & Translator Peer Support Group meetings is announced, the enthusiasm is palpable, but I often receive a bunch of e-mails just before the meeting from people apologizing profusely that they can’t attend because of work, family obligations, or other responsibilities vying for their time. For the record, there’s no need to apologize.

What about labor issues?

Many interpreters, myself included, believe labor issues pose the biggest threat to not only our mental health, but our profession as a whole. I’m not going to pretend to have answers here for what is, in my personal and professional opinion, a tangled mess. I know I’m also not alone in feeling lost when thinking about the state of the language services profession and reflecting on the downright horrifying stories other interpreters have shared. We definitely need to make progress on that front because how we are treated and whether we are valued or not does have a huge impact on our mental health. But at the same time, if we take care of our mental health, we will be in a better position to address these labor issues. We will be more confident, we will have more energy, and be able to cultivate a sense of hope that things will get better if we put our minds to it.

So, what can I do?

At the end of every blog post and article you’ve ever read, there’s almost always what’s called a CTA or Call to Action. It’s usually a little blurb at the end that is designed to encourage the reader to do the thing that the author wants them to do. In this case, there are three possible things I’d like you to consider doing:

1. Do something for your mental health

If you’re a language services professional, even if you’ve read this article and said to yourself, “My mental health is great!” think about what your self care looks like. I have yet to meet someone who thinks their self care game is perfect, so think about how you can improve yours. Make sure you’re doing something every day to engage in self care.

2. Start a conversation with your colleagues about mental health

Talking with people who have similar experiences and challenges can be powerful. Even if you feel like you’re doing great mental health-wise, maybe a colleague of yours needs some support? You’d be surprised what comes up when people begin having an open (and honest!) dialogue about mental health.

3. Consider helping out with the Peer Support Group

As I mentioned previously in this article, there is a Facebook group called the Interpreter & Translator Peer Support Group. But it’s so much more than that. While I’ve been too busy lately to hold our live meetings over Zoom, I am planning on resuming those meetings shortly. I also want to have a meeting some time in the near future to discuss plans for the group, and how we can really keep the conversation going about interpreter mental health.

If you’re interested in contributing to the group in any way, even if it’s just to share your thoughts or offer support, please reach out to me on my contact page and let me know. We’ll take all the help we can get to keep this space and this mission going!