Mental health is one of the leading causes of declining Interpreter retention.

This statistic is taken from Smith, S. (2025)

Smith, S. (2025, September 17). Interpreter well-being: Burnout, mental health, and industry support. Day Interpreting Blog. 

What you should know about Interpreters and Mental Health

Lai and Heydon (2015) noted in their study that many Interpreters will interpret for traumatic assignments: oncology appointments, child welfare, police involvement, sexual assault, and many other stressful and overwhelming situations. The same study notes that most interpreters do not know how to handle the stress of these situations and that if this stress is not addressed, then it will lead to interpreter burnout. 

Many young interpreters lack adequate training and do not have access to mental health resources for interpreting professionals. Most interpreting programs focus on language and ethical preparation but do not provide up-and-coming interpreters with the tools they will need to navigate the emotional aspect of their profession. Working Interpreters often feel unsupported and unprepared for the mental toll that they regularly encounter during interpreting. This gap in mental health is leading to interpreter burnout and interpreter attrition.

To learn more about this issue, please visit the site below. 

 

Lai, M., & Heydon, G. (2015, May). Vicarious trauma among interpreters. Clemson. https://open.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1107&context=ijie

What do Current Interpreters Have to Say

About Interpreter Burnout

Occupational Safety, Health, and Well-Being Concerns and Solutions for Management Reported by Sign Language Interpreters: A Qualitative Study

(Roman et al. 2024) shared a few quotes from current ASL interpreters and their views on interpreter burnout.

Interpreter #1, “I have learned that I don’t do as well with the really intense emotional assignments because I take that on and then, that affects me the rest of the day or depending on how horrible the situation was, maybe for the next week.”

interpreter # 6, “interpreters just need to be ready at a moment’s notice, to be at a beck and call and there is no return loyalty or commitment to interpreters by the people who are hiring them”

Interpreter # 21 “You have to schedule time for intentional decompression.”

Interpreter # 26 “It takes training, in the beginning when you’re young it’s hard to manage, but with training, you can become more protective of yourself and carry on.”

Interpreter # 9 “ Shame dies where stories are told in safe spaces and interpreters don’t have safe spaces to normalize their experiences with each other and that is a problem.”

All of these quotes were taken from

Roman, G., Demian, C., Love, T., & Yousefi-Nooraie, R. (2024). Occupational safety, health, and well-being concerns and solutions for management reported by sign language interpreters: A qualitative study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(11), 1400.

To access these quotes directly or to view other quotes, please visit   https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21111400