In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

180 Hearts, Minds, Hands: A Dream Team for Mental Health 11 Julianne Gold Brunson, Judy Molner, and Miriam Nathan Lerner Interpreting in a mental health setting with hearing staff members and deaf clientele , the ethical situations fly fast and furious, providing the interpreter with a wealth of war stories with which to regale neophyte students of this dynamic profession . Much has been written to improve the many and varied mental health services being extended to deaf populations. The most commonly described dyads are that of hearing therapist and deaf patient. However, consider the case of a deaf psychologist treating hearing clients. In this instance, the interpreter becomes the liaison between the deaf professional and the hearing patient. When an interpreter not only works primarily with one deaf professional among hearing staff members but also serves as a de facto member of the treatment team, ethics are challenged differently, unexpectedly, and often. The interpreter and the psychologist must function as a team, and the role of the interpreter will vary from more prosaic assignments. With the tables turned, the deaf professional must find ways to capitalize on the interpreting service so he or she can fully address the needs of his or her hearing clients and function smoothly among his or her hearing colleagues. Clearly, a commitment to teamwork and collegiality is fundamental to ensure a sense of professional satisfaction for both the psychologist and the interpreter. The Treatment Team This case involves a deaf clinical psychology doctoral intern, Julianne Gold Brunson, providing services to a department of psychiatry within a major university medical center. Her primary duties included interviewing patients, providing individual and group therapy, and participating in staff meetings. The patients were in emotional and mental distress, possibly creating obstacles to their ability to work with a deaf individual, their understanding of the role and function of an interpreter , and perhaps even the purpose of the psychologist’s very presence in their immediate environment. Gold Brunson’s interpreter was Judy Molner, a nationally certified interpreter with twenty years of interpreting experience in a variety of settings. Interviews with these two professionals were conducted by means of e-mail. The therapist and interpreter answered questions posed to them individually and then responded to each other’s comments in a dialogue about their work together. This chapter is a compilation of their recollections, comments, and analyses with additional framing commentary. Finding the Right Interpreter Deaf professionals who rely on interpreters to represent them to any hearing individual or audience must make an impressive leap of faith. A high percentage of their working day is spent interacting with people who do not use their primary language. Only one person is entrusted to transmit information and stay as unobtrusively in the background as possible. Wadensjo (1998) asserts that although the indirect relationship between parties using interpreting services is positively affected, their direct relationship can be altered by this third person in the environment . Therefore, finding the right professional match of psychologist and interpreter is critical. In cities functioning with a dearth of interpreters, a deaf psychologist may have no choice as to whom he or she acquires as an interpreter. Fortunately, in this case, the team’s city is rich in skilled interpreter resources. There is a pool of extremely talented interpreters who frequently work in mental health settings for this particular teaching hospital as well as for clinics and agencies that serve the local deaf population. Gold Brunson, as an intern engaged in her coursework for the hospital, consequently had access to the services they provide. Molner was assigned to work on a regular basis with other staff interpreters, filling in outside of the primary interpreter’s scheduled hours. Occasionally there would be community interpreters on the roster, all of them having extensive experience working in the mental health setting. This sort of assignment differs dramatically from the more prosaic community or college settings. Molner had worked with two other psychology interns over the past few years and was thus cognizant of what the environment and this specific sort of interpreting entailed. Even more of a factor in this professional team’s success was their finessing of the interpersonal dynamics inherent to working with mentally ill individuals in an inpatient setting. Because the interpreter and the therapist were both female, Gold Brunson believed that the deaf psychiatrist–hearing interpreter unit was one of solid female energy. She believes that a same-sex duo was helpful because the patients would hear a female...

Share