our words make worlds

Interpreters on the Fringes of Society: Coping with Emotions

*UPDATE: This event has been cancelled because of the UCU strike*

This event brings together interpreters, psychotherapists, charity workers and academics, to discuss (1) how charities can collaborate effectively with interpreters working with vulnerable populations, and (2) how interpreters can cope with highly-charged emotional interactions.

This event will draw on the applicants’ research in the areas of interpreting and emotional processing in order to disseminate and exploit information on coping mechanisms and ethical interpreting practices with volunteer linguists working with charities, and invite reflections from a wide range of participants who are involved in the provision of interpreting services for vulnerable citizens on the fringes of society for whom English is not their first language.

To this end, the event will include presentations with invited speakers (e.g. psychotherapist, interpreter, researcher) and opportunities for informal discussions and reflections from participants. The hope is to create wider awareness and understanding of this type of work and to provide participants with resources that they can make use of and benefit from when working in these culturally and linguistically sensitive contexts.

Programme

09:30 Registration, coffee and biscuits

10:00 Introductory remarks

10:15 'The health challenges affecting marginalised communities', Dr Peter Keogh, Senior Lecturer in Public Health, Open University

11:00 'The multilingual work of charities: how to collaborate with volunteer interpreters', Cari Bottois, Coordinator for Charity Translators

11:45 Break

12:00 'Interpreting for vulnerable people', Sue Leschen, Freelance interpreter and translator

12:45 Sharing experiences: group discussions

13:15 Lunch

14:00 'Emotion regulation in multilingual settings', Dr Séverine Hubscher-Davidson, Senior Lecturer in French and Translation, The Open University

14:45 'Minimising susceptibility to vicarious trauma', Dr Beverley Costa, Senior Practitioner Fellow and Psychotherapist, DPsych, UKCP approved supervisor, MBACP

15:30 Coffee and biscuits

15:45 'Technological and ethical solutions to improve language access', Dr Jérôme Devaux, Lecturer in French and Interpreting, The Open University

16:30 Round table discussion

17:00 Closing remarks

Please note that this event will be live streamed and made available to the public via the internet. Audience members are participants in this process. To book tickets for the event, please visit theeventbrite page here. If you would like to attend the event in person, please register for the following ticket type: General Admission [attending in person]. If you would like to view the event live on the day, please register for the following ticket type: General Admission [attending online]. This is the link to access the livestreamed event : https://bit.ly/2CnFLpy

For any organisational enquiries, please email: Samantha.Davage@open.ac.uk.