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Gotta use clinical skills in attending behaviors, like eye contact, man. Peripheral vision is a cool power to use, but useless if both interpreter and client are not within a field of view together.

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“Too close, too close, take steps back.” The close distance between the client and the interpreter standing behind them can elicit anxiety and a belief that they are not making art in the right way.

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My countertransfer towards my client may originate from my interpreter’s subjectivity of the said client. Sometimes it is fairly easy to track down the crumbs, otherwise, it can be difficult to pinpoint.

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When My Terp Needs Support, Do I Become...

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When My Terp Needs Support, Do I Become...

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If I support interpreters when they experience distress, I might be acting as their helper. Should I act like an asshole and say, “Good luck with figuring out how to cope with this crap. Peace!” What does a ‘helper with boundaries’ role entail?

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One gaze, sure. Two gazes… is it one too many? How much is the interpreter's gaze weight, lighter or heavier than mine, I wonder. Sometimes, I doodled in my notebook to sneakily divert the interpreter’s gaze toward mine.

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Although interpreters are trained to be neutral conduits, their nonverbal behavior, whether unintentional or intentional, can expose their biases. It is helpful to use cues, signaling their difficulty in understanding clients. It is unhelpful when an interpreter provides hints about their clinical judgments.

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The interpreter voices a deaf person in the middle of a fast-paced interaction between hearies = Nice!

The interpreter interrupts a hearing client and voices a deaf therapist = Yikes, maybe not okay.

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When a hearing therapist works with a deaf person, it is beneficial when an interpreter takes on the duties of educating the therapist about effective communication and cultural understanding. However, it is not ideal for interpreters to do so with hearing clients.

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The client’s act of sharing their picture with interpreters, after showing me, informs me of their level of trust toward interpreters. Alternatively, showing it to the interpreter first and being redirected toward me by interpreters might indicate the client’s continued confusion in adjusting to working with me while hearing the voices of interpreters.

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During transitions, before and after sessions, I allow interpreters and clients to engage in small talk to develop rapport. I remain on alert whether or not this small talk may further provoke unhelpful behaviors or any safety concerns and intervene when needed.

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Not wanting to unintentionally offend the hearing clients, interpreters tone down their mirrored affect of negative emotions, which deprives me of access to empathetic connections. I wonder if their capacity for emotional attunement at the time plays a factor.

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ASL signs may appear to be feeling-provoking depending on the number of hands, speed, and force used when signing with a range of emotions being expressed.

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The team consisting of me and my interpreters mostly remained the same as clients came and went.

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Without access to the visual component of the client's artwork, an interpreter may struggle to make sense of the client’s comments about their imagery and creative process.

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The translation between American Sign Language and English will always be imperfect, as it is impossible to convey word by word. Here, I am trusting this interpreter in delivering a higher level of accuracy.

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I am often accompanied by interpreters like a shadow. I ponder how differently people might behave around me with and without interpreters.

“It could become a superpower when it comes to working with an angry parent of a youth client”, one of my supervisors said.

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Being profoundly deaf means I am clueless when it comes to background noises or any sounds made during the session…until the interpreter conveys them to me, that is, if they determine it is important to note.

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When an interpreter uses ASL, connections with the client feel organic, even with an absence of exact client language. PSE conveys the client's language better, but disconnects in emotional areas.

Pidgin Signed English (PSE) is a combination of American Sign Language and English language.

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If I sense my interpreter is not attuning to the client’s emotions to mirror them accurately, I take a look at their artwork, in addition to reflecting on my observations of their body language and affect.

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A kite metaphor: we require full attention, intention, and ongoing engagement while steering this kite and working with external factors like weather, available tools, and the strength of its foundation.

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Navigating as a Deaf Art Therapist with Interpreters

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Navigating as a Deaf Art Therapist with Interpreters

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Navigating as a Deaf Art Therapist with Interpreters