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.
Published on April 19, 2013 | Categories: Newsroom migrated press release