Saying it in your own words: Cultural Interpretation Services Breakthrough Fall 2004

At the Centre

Cultural Interpretation Services at CAMH help serve our clients in over 55 languages

Stella Rahman, with Kaye Myers, American Sign Language Interpreter, having a post-interview discussion.

When Fatima and her family moved to Canada in the spring of 2003, only her husband Shayan and eldest daughter Nasreen, 17, spoke English. Although the transition from moving from their native Pakistan to Canada was not an easy one, Nasreen adapted quickly to life in Canada and did well in school, and Shayan was able to find work at a local company. However the transition for Fatima was not as smooth; she had given birth to the couple's second daughter shortly after arriving in Toronto and had developed post-partum depression. Nasreen and Shayan knew that they needed to get help for her, but were not sure where to turn. A colleague at Shayan's company suggested that they contact CAMH, where Fatima was promptly put in touch with the people that could help her. However, during her very first visit, Fatima still felt she could not convey her feelings well in English.

That's when Fatima's healthcare provider turned to CAMH's Cultural Interpretation Services (CIS). They were able to provide assistance by way of an interpreter so Fatima could talk about her feelings in her native Urdu. CIS provides services free of charge and gives clients at CAMH access to trained, professional interpreters. Interpreters are available to work with clients in a number of different situations including assessments, consultations, intake and court hearings. The client's service care provider must make the request for an interpreter.

The role of CIS is to facilitate communication between service providers at CAMH and clients who do not share a common language. This service improves access to services and resources, and increases the quality of care for clients at CAMH. It also helps to reduce inappropriate referrals, delays and misdiagnosis. "Improving the quality of care and communication with clients is very important" says Stella Rahman, Clinical Services Consultant with CIS.

In the past three years, the rate of requests for interpreters has grown from ten requests per month to 120. Interpretation and translation services for written material are provided in a range of languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, French, Tamil, Portuguese, Polish, Spanish, Farsi, Somali and Arabic.

CIS works closely with CAMH's Diversity Program, consulting them for feedback, and identifying additional languages to include in the service. As well, CIS maintainsa pool of interpreters in the most frequently requested languages, which currently number 55. Close attention is paid to areas such as dialect when selecting an interpreter, as in some languages, such as Kurdish, the dialect is very important. If a request for a language is made and there is no interpreter for that particular language, CIS will find an interpreter from other not-for-profit community organizations.

There are challenges in particular for the population of clients with hearing impairments. "There are very few interpreters who provide American Sign Language (ASL)," says Stella, "often these interpreters are booked several months in advance." Although Stella has a few individuals in her pool of interpreters who provide ASL, she also makes sure to keep in contact with the Canadian Hearing Society.

Clients at CAMH should inform their healthcare provider if they wish to access services in a language other than English.

According to the City of Toronto, there are more than 100 languages spoken in Toronto, while Statistics Canada estimates that 18 per cent of Canadians reported a non-official native tongue.

For further information on this service please contact Stella Rahman, Clinical Services Consultant at
(416) 535-8501 ext. 6462, or e-mail <stella_rahman@camh.net>.

Other services and resources at CAMH

CAMH is committed to providing services that are sensitive to language. Below are some resources that
are available in languages other than English.

• The R. Samuel McLaughlin Addiction and Mental Health Information Centre meets the needs of diverse communities, in that it has print, audio-taped messages, and web materials available in 16 languages. The McLaughlin Centre has also increased its capacity to provide service to those who speak languages other than English or French through partnership with CAMH's Cultural Interpretation Services.
• Our external newsletter CAMH connexions is available in both French and Portuguese.
• The Multicultural Multilingual Memory Clinic provides clinic services in English, French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese and Hindi. The clinic also works closely with CAMH's Cultural Interpretation Service to meet other language needs as necessary.
  

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