This was supposed to be one of the biggest and most important church interpreting assignments of my career. I was interpreting at a policy discussion for an entire denomination. It varied from technical to theological and from straightforward whispered interpreting to some really tricky dialogue interpreting. I didn’t expect that, on the third day, I would find myself with the symptoms of vicarious trauma, after doing on-stage interpreting of a speech on how an epidemic and war had affected someone’s family.
The truth is, sometimes church interpreting is emotionally, psychologically and spiritually tough, quite apart from its technical challenges. What do we do then?
You are not alone
The first thing I want to say is that you are definitely not alone. Interpreters in all lines of work can and do suffer from vicarious trauma from time to time. The nature of church interpreting makes things slightly more difficult in that emotionally difficult content can catch us off-guard since not all churches will send an order of service to the interpreting team before they start. Many churches don’t have an order of service at all.
So remember, if you struggle after interpreting traumatic content, you are not alone.
Don’t bottle your feelings
While as Christians, we are often tempted to wear our best holy faces, when it comes to dealing with vicarious trauma, brushing yourself down and pretending nothing has happened will not help. If anything, it will likely mean that your emotions overspill elsewhere in unhealthy ways.
As soon as you can, confess your feelings to yourself and to God. It is also really important to find someone you trust who can pray with you and be alongside you, even virtually. This is especially important if the vicarious trauma you are experiencing has links to any previous trauma you have felt. It is OK to not be OK and finding someone who can support you in the early stages can be very helpful.
Allow time to heal
Some things take time to work through. Recovering from vicarious trauma might not be a quick process. Allow yourself time to feel what you are feeling, process your emotions and pray. Sometimes, we can heal enough to get through any follow-up interpreting before fully processing what happens. But processing what happens and praying through it is important.
Vicarious trauma can happen in church interpreting and knowing some basics can be helpful. None of this can replace proper pastoral support and, where necessary, working with a qualified mental health professional.