A Systemic Perspective on Working with Interpreters

A systemic framework is adopted to explore theoretical and clinical issues when interpreters are used in therapy. A child mental-health setting was used to ask therapists about how they experienced their work with Bangladeshi families when working with an interpreter. The interpreter's perspective of this work was also explored. The paper reports on how carrying out therapy is experienced differently by therapists when working with an interpreter. The differences reported by the therapists included positive comments about how having an interpreter enhanced their work in many ways, while also acknowledging some of the difficulties that arose.