Being understood is no easy matter: CAMH Annual Report 2004

CAMH Annual Report

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

Imagine if you became seriously ill in a foreign country where you couldn't speak the language. How could you convey what was wrong and also be confident that people understood you? The key to your care, especially for an addiction or mental health problem, is not just about taking the spoken words and interpreting them literally. It is also about understanding the culture, the values, the nuances and the meaning that lies behind those words.

Interpreters who work with the Cultural Interpretation Services at CAMH are all professionally trained. They all know the importance of interpreting as accurately as possible. They help clinicians to better understand the problem, diagnose it correctly, then recommend an appropriate treatment plan that will lead the client back to health.

"I truly know how important it is to bridge the language barrier," says Stella Rahman, Clinical Services Consultant. Originally from Bangladesh, Rahman once worked as a family physician in the Middle East. Not knowing a single Arabic word, she had a full-time interpreter when speaking with patients, allowing her to make critical medical decisions.

Rahman works with interpreters at CAMH to ensure that they speak clearly in the first language of the client, and that they understand substance use and mental health terms and issues. She also trains CAMH professionals in understanding how to work with interpreters. Sometimes the clinician may find it necessary to meet with the interpreter after the appointment, without the client, to understand some of the nuances of the interview.

For example, a Filipino interpreter speaking in the voice of his client explained a bruise on the client's arm as: "Someone did a coining on me." In the post-interview discussion, the puzzled clinician learned that it's common practice in the Philippines to rub a coin on the skin to ward off a fever.

As our community continues to expand, so does our service. When the service began three years ago, it was receiving 10 requests per month. Today that figure has been as high as 120 requests per month. The number of interpreters has quadrupled to 92 and the number of languages spoken is now at 50, including American Sign Language. Interpreters are available for emergencies any time of the day or night, using Language Line, a telephone interpretation service.

With Toronto and the rest of the province as its diverse base, Cultural Interpretation Services is destined to grow. In fact, just recently, Rahman hired an interpreter of Amharic, an Ethiopian language.

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