At Petals, our goal is that every parent in the UK has access to our specialist bereavement counselling following baby loss.
As the UK’s leading baby loss counselling charity, Petals aim to provide a service that is free of barriers, that fosters an environment where every client is treated with dignity and respect, and that ensures every individual suffering a loss, regardless of their language, culture or background, can access the mental support they need, for free.
In this post, experienced Petals counsellor Sarah Mackay explains the importance of breaking down language barriers to create an inclusive and safe space for counselling:
“With the support of an interpreter in counselling sessions, our clients are able to fully express their pain and fears in their own language, without the added stress of struggling to find their own words.”
Sarah highlights the importance of equality of access for those seeking counselling support after loss and shares her experience of working with interpreters as a Petals Counsellor.
Working with interpreters in our counselling sessions
– Sarah Mackay
As a Petals counsellor working with bereaved parents, I have witnessed first-hand how much of a difference an interpreter makes.
I have delivered over 50 Petals counselling sessions with the support of an interpreter and these sessions would be impossible to deliver to these clients without someone who is able to translate their experiences of trauma and grief following a baby loss.
Quite often these clients have been in an emergency situation at the hospital where it was not possible to provide an interpreter at short notice.
It is distressing for parents to hear that their baby has unexpectedly died, but for parents who do not speak English fluently, these situations can be made even more overwhelming. This therefore makes their experience of baby loss much more difficult to understand and process.
With the support of an interpreter, our clients are able to fully express their pain and fears in their own language, without the added stress of struggling to find their own words. We are then able to help them make sense of their experiences and enable them to unravel their trauma so that the grieving process can begin.
By validating why they feel as they do, bereaved parents can gradually heal from their trauma. Quite often, parents who do not speak English fluently are away from their families and friends who can help and support them. They feel isolated in their grieving process.
They often tell me, through the interpreter, that the counselling sessions are their only outlet to express their feelings.
They will say: ‘Thank you so much for listening to us’.
They often go on to state that I am the first person who has really taken time to understand what they went through. As we go through the sessions, the clients are able to find their resilience to cope with the pain and grief. It is so rewarding that at the end of the sessions the client will express how much the counselling has helped them develop coping skills to manage their lives following their loss.
“I remember one client who, at the beginning of the sessions, could not leave her house because seeing other babies in the park triggered her emotionally and she just could not cope with her distress.
At the end of our sessions, however, the relief on her face when she told me, through the interpreter, that she had been able to walk in the park and manage her emotions when she saw babies in their prams, was profound.
This client had found it so hard to open up in the sessions, but by delivering our specialist counselling with an interpreter we were able to form a trusting therapeutic relationship so that, over time, she was able to process her grief and build coping strategies, and ultimately, feel less alone in her journey.
I feel so grateful that I am able to work with interpreters so that a language barrier does not prevent any parent from accessing baby loss counselling.
I am honoured to work for a charity that actively supports diversity.
Interpreters need to be skilled to be an effective part of the counselling session, providing their expert translations of parents’ raw and painful emotions.
This enables me as their counsellor to work with their emotions and help them find their coping skills to manage their loss.
At the end of their sessions, I have witnessed that the parents are able to find their ‘new normal’ and ultimately find ways to live with their grief.
Petals are proud to work with Language Line who provide interpreters for our online counselling sessions.
