Free interpreting services for private practice occupational therapists

“If you talk to a man [sic] in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” ~ Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela understood the power of connections made in a mother tongue.

Australians speak more than 350 languages. For new arrivals, and other people with low English proficiency, the use of language support is a significant determinant of the accessibility and effectiveness of health services.

Did you know that many communitybased occupational therapists have recently gained access to the Free Interpreting Service (FIS) so that we can serve clients in their mother tongue?

This national program supports 32 Local Government Areas across the nation and will be evaluated by June 2026.

Empathy with migration and settlement stories is enough to highlight that we need to use language support while someone is learning English; both to understand and to be understood.

Reflection on our practice and/or pathways into and through our service is enough to highlight that without language support, it’s impossible to enact competencies universally expected of occupational therapy practitioners.

To date, 50 privately practicing occupational therapists have registered with the FIS. The good news is that these 50 practitioners are now ready to seamlessly respond to a client who needs language support.

The bad news is that the 50 FIS registrations are not from Hobart, where we’re from. It’s the national figure for the profession to date.

I met Somayeh while I was the lead for Settlement and Community Services in Tasmania’s Migrant Resource Centre.

She was a casual bicultural worker, new to Hobart and shares about her experience learning English:

“I came to Australia with my parents and younger brother as a refugee. I learned basic English first during my high school in Iran. When we moved to Australia, I attended TasTAFE and started my never-ending language journey there. I learned mostly through experiencing and overcoming day-to-day challenges.

I had the best English in my family, so I was in charge of dealing with different services, organisations and generally the outside world, which was in English.”

Humanitarian entrants from persecution and conflict areas in the world don’t often have Somayeh’s access to high school and English classes. Many start a very long journey of English language acquisition upon arrival to Australia.

Somayeh reflects on the significance of new systems, expectations, and ways of using services:

“For people from a refugee background, the whole Australian health system is new, let alone the language.”

Our youth worker mentioned that Somayeh was interested in studying occupational therapy, so I naturally brought in some texts and journals and had a chat. Somayeh reflects that:

“For almost all people from my community, occupational therapy is an unknown profession.”

Without an occupational therapy program yet in Tasmania, Somayeh would have to move away from family and community to study on the mainland; a decision with significant financial, social, and cultural dimensions. We’ve kept in touch over the years, and today she’s a fourth year Deakin occupational therapy student on placement.

Somayeh continues to be a support for family and community members to access services while they have low English proficiency and says:

“It was always a relief for me when the services offered interpreter services. This meant less stress for me, as I was not needed anymore, and my family could go there independently.”

Practitioners are often relieved that people have brought a community member or family member who has more English skills; however, at what cost? People like Somayeh compensating for service providers not using interpreters comes at the expense of engaging in other restorative, settlement, education or work occupations.

“Sometimes we would ask for an interpreter but the answer was not always a yes. Soon, we stopped asking for an interpreter and almost everything we did was in-person, with me being present everywhere with my family to interpret for them. I only had very basic English and for this reason at times I avoided asking questions or advocating for my family and I, simply because I didn’t know how to say it in English.”

Service delivery without an interpreter results in a breach of rights and is an example of systemic racism where people’s service quality is dictated by where they are from.

How can a practitioner be assured that a family member has an adequate level of English comprehension, interpreting accuracy, confidentiality, or the impartiality expected of a professional interpreter?

Somayeh highlights another common hazard:

“Sometimes school aged children are asked to act as an interpreter for their parents when dealing with sensitive matters such as family violence or legal and financial matters. On top of its negative impact on a child’s mental health, this can create serious misunderstanding.”

Somayeh also reflected on how failing to use an interpreter to make a phone call can result in people not accessing services.

“I avoided phone calls altogether for many months as it was too complicated for me to understand people (speaking English) over the phone.”

Professional, ethical, legal, employer, public expectation – there are many layers of implications for failing to use an interpreter when needed.

(It’s a good student and clinical supervision exercise to brainstorm them!)

Somayeh offers three simple tips to practitioners working with interpreters:

1. Take your time to explain your message (e.g. speak in ‘chunks’, unpack concepts and assumed knowledge)

2. Understand that key information can get lost even when using an interpreter (e.g. different assumed knowledge and different cultural frames of reference)

3. Check client understanding (e.g. the practitioner is responsible for the transmission of meaning, even with an interpreter providing the language support)

Why use an interpreter? Somayeh says it best: “It’s about making the client the centre of focus.”

Follow the QR code at the end of this article for a webpage with tips for what to do if:

• You’re not sure if you have an interpreter account

• You want to check if you’re eligible for FIS

• You just made a FIS account

Additionally, you’ll find resources for a short video, a webinar, national interpreter symbol and TIS National (Translating and Interpreting Service) promotional materials so people know that they can have an interpreter in your service.

We trust this information is helpful, and we welcome contact to share tips or stories to help you. Or perhaps you could help the work of the Cultural Diversity ‘OTs in Action’ Social Justice group. Both authors can be found on LinkedIn.

Clarissa Adriel is the Clinical Lead of Richmond Fellowship Tasmania, the state’s largest community mental health service provider. She participates in OTA’s Cultural Diversity ‘OTs in Action’ Social Justice group, drawing on extensive experience working with migrants and refugees.

Somayeh Kouhestani is a fourth year Deakin occupational therapy student and comes to the profession from Afghanistan. She has lived experience of language learning in the context of forced migration and providing language support to other new arrivals settling into Tasmania.