Alverno College Launches Mental Health Interpreter Institute

April 19, 2013

Alverno College will host its first Interpreter Institute workshop on Saturday, April 20. The event is sponsored by the Spanish/English Healthcare Interpretation (SPI) Program at Alverno College, and will focus on mental health interpreting. A pioneer in the metro-Milwaukee area, the Alverno Interpreter Institute workshop series will provide working interpreters, in any spoken or signed language pair, a means to obtain continuing education units required for national certification. Certification is not currently required by area hospitals for employment as a medical interpreter, however according to the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters, the national trend “seems to indicate that we are moving towards that end as certification is gaining ground and wide acceptance.” For many employers, access to continuing education has been a barrier in enforcing such a requirement.

Conference objectives include:

Providing information to interpreters regarding the mental health services available to community members in the Milwaukee area

Practicing interpreting in mental health settings through scripted and unscripted role plays and exercises

Networking with interpreters from the area Working with students in the Master of Science in Community Psychology program at Alverno College to expose them to the skills necessary to work effectively with an interpreter

Speakers include Jeanette Arellano, Latino Outreach and Education Coordinator from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Greater Milwaukee, Daniel Dickover, Instructor of Healthcare Interpretation at Alverno College, Chris Rubach, Supervisor of Interpreter Services at Aurora Healthcare, and Jennifer Flamboe, Chair of World Languages and Assistant Professor of Spanish & Healthcare Interpretation at Alverno College.

The Spanish/English Healthcare Interpretation Program at Alverno College began in 2007 to increase the medical terminology and interpreting skills of degree-seeking students with near-native proficiencies in Spanish and English in order to meet the increasing demands of a multilingual, multicultural workforce.