Working with interpreters

For our clients, Cintra has developed a one-day training course on Working with Interpreters. The course aims to reinforce good communication skills and help clients' staff to communicate, using an interpreter, across cultures and languages. It will help participants to:

• Identify the skills and qualities required of interpreters
• Understand the role of an interpreter and the job they do
• Identify the most appropriate method of interpreting to meet their requirements
• Know how to access interpreters and advice and support in working with them
• Know how to manage an interview where an interpreter is used, from booking through to debriefing
• Have a broad understanding of the local multilingual context, the languages used and the communities that use them, and how this impacts on the organisation’s work as a public sector provider
• Know how to provide or commission appropriate information for the public, whether written or recorded, on accessing services

The course can be tailored for particular professional groups, and can be delivered in a shorter timescale – eg a 2-hour course for senior managers, lunchtime workshops for health centre staff. We have also developed specific training - for example, case conferences, guidelines for approved social workers and others involved in mental health assessments and drug and alcohol counselling.