At risk: Unqualified Counselors in Cork

http://www.corkindependent.com/local-news/local-news/at-risk/

The lack of regulation in the counselling profession is allowing unqualified people to run counselling services in Cork, according to the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP). With a total of 530 IACP members operating in the southern region, the IACP has called for regulation to prevent vulnerable clients being put at risk.

Geraldine Burke, Chairperson of the IACP Southern Regional Committee, told the Cork Independent that she was aware of unqualified operators running counselling services in Cork.

"There are people working as counsellors who have not trained or are not accredited with anybody. There is more to the job than just being a good listener. "Counsellors and psychotherapists deal with a range of sensitive issues. A person may be feeling vulnerable when they attend a counsellor or psychotherapist," said Ms Burke, who runs an IACP accredited counselling service in the city.

"It requires a high level of qualification to deal appropriately with sensitive and complex issues, such as anxiety, abuse, addiction, or relationship difficulties," she said. She explained that it takes five to six years to gain accreditation as an IACP registered counsellor or psychotherapist.

"Yet, anyone could do a year or three-week course, buy business cards and hang a sign outside the door, without any qualifications." She said that clients should be wary of counsellors who ask inappropriate questions during sessions.

"People need to ask if their counsellor is accredited too and ask for certificates to prove qualifications. And clients should not be asked about anything which has no relevance to the issues they are dealing with. At all times, boundaries must never be crossed.

"A number of my clients have even discussed their bad experiences with counsellors who we know are not qualified or accredited." However, she said the nature of the service was preventing people from speaking up about dodgy services.

"Vulnerable clients don't want to complain as their sessions are personal and private. This is why we need a regulation of the profession," she said. According to the IACP, anxiety and depression are most frequently occurring reason for people visiting counsellors or psychotherapists.

Naoise Kelly, National Director of IACP, said this week that the Association's accredited members must also fulfil further requirements. "Members of the public may not be aware of the levels of qualification required to be an IACP accredited counsellor or psychotherapist." He said that members also had to complete ongoing professional development to maintain their accreditation.

The Use of Non-Accredited Interpreters

Kerry Deaf Resource Centre email update, 28 Oct 2008

THE USE OF NON-ACCREDITED INTERPRETERS

Our service has been campaigning for a long time to ensure Deaf people are provided with appropriately qualified interpreters.

In the Corkman newspaper on the 16th of October, they ran an article on a court case where all the charges were dismissed due to the mishandling of interpreting access.

The paper reported that "the difficulties arose regarding a statement made by witness Marie O’Sullivan on the night of the incident, and the qualifications of an interpreter used at the court hearing. Tom O’Sullivan, defending solicitor for Laura Kelly, called for the case to be dismissed onthe basis that there had been a statement taken from a witness without an interpreter on the night of the incident..... In addition, he said, an interpreter used in court at a previous sitting, on September 3, had not been properly qualified.

Following that sitting, Mr O’Sullivan had sent Gardai information contending that the interpreter used for key witness Marie O’Sullivan in court was not properly qualified. “She [Laura Kelly] is entitled to fairness,” said Tom O’Sullivan. “I believe that the issue that has arisen is due to the interpreter, as she was not properly trained"

This is certainly a wake up call for Gardai, Courts and other agencies.There have been a number of incidents in Cork where a non-accredited person has been booked via Access Translations. The HSE and Court Services use Access Translations for sign language interpreters- however none of the agencies ensure the person booked is appropriately accredited to do the work.

We will continue to campaign to ensure only accredited interpreters are booked for all interpreting assignments.



MINISTERIAL ORDER ON INTERPRETER USE IN GARDA INTERVIEWS

To prevent cases collapsing as the one above, we need to be aware of the rights that Deaf people have in Ireland and ensure these rights are respected.

In the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 (Treatment of Persons in Custody in Garda Siochana Stations) Regulations, 1987.(8) (a) Where an arrested person is deaf or there is doubt about his hearing ability, he shall not be questioned in relation to an offence in the absence of an interpreter, if one is reasonably available, without his written consent (and, where he is under the age of seventeen years, the written consent of an appropriate adult) or in the circumstances specified in paragraph (7) (a) (iii).

For more information on this regulation, check out the following

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1987/en/si/0119.html

MEAN^DEEP BUT DEPEND CONTEXT

Lorraine Leeson and Susan Foley-Cave (2004): 'MEAN^DEEP BUT DEPEND^SITUATION'*: Some Reflections on the Challenges of Interpreting Semantics and Pragmatics in an Irish context.

This paper challenges two related notions:(1) that interpreters are not actively involved in creating the discourse that they ‘mediate’ and (2) they are impartial with respect to both the message and the participants in an interpreted event. While much has been said regarding the myth of neutrality vis-à-vis interpreters in medical settings (Metzger 1999) and in police interviews (Wadjensjo 1998), we wish to look at the particular challenges that face interpreters in the postgraduate education environment, specifically, in a classroom dedicated to introducing topics in semantics and pragmatics.

We suggest that the challenges of discussing the semantics of one language in translation demands decision making on several levels on the part of the interpreter. We outline some of these and consider the consequences of such decisions. We also discuss the role of consultation with students and staff regarding appropriateness of message transfer and contrast the practice of active preparation, consulting and decision making both on and off task with the notion of the interpreter as mediator and impartial bystander.

Finally we suggest that while the decisions made by the interpreters in the semantics/ pragmatics classroom are influenced by a metalinguistic framework, similar decisions are made in other interpreted domains. We suggest that old, highly embedded models of interpreter as conduit continue to influence understanding of the interpreters’ role and that this needs to be challenged in order for us to come to appreciate more fully the nature of co-constructed interpreted discourse in action.

More Online Resources for Interpreters

I've found another excellent resources page for sign language interpreters. This one is by Damon Timm, an ASL interpreter who has many articles and links on his page. There's a good emphasis on Ethics on the pieces up there. Check it out.

And while I'm at it let me recommend The Interpreter's Friend, another excellent resources site by David Bar-Tzur.

Educational Interpreting in Ireland - Guidelines

Found a couple of interesting documents on Irish educational interpreting.

DNA Project website based in Trinity College Dublin

AHEAD Educational Support Worker Handbook.


Handy to have reference to these as a guide to how educational interpreters should work, and produced by two very high authorities in the field. The DNA Project was a highly successful project (not sure if the project is still going but really hope it is) focusing on integration of Deaf and hard of hearing students into third level, administered by Amy O'Shea, a NAATI-accredited Australian interpreter herself. AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disability) is a highly respected independent non-profit organisation working to promote full access to and participation in third level education for students with disabilities in Ireland.