Personal Reflections on Providing Psychotherapy in a Third Language

Date of Award

6-27-2012

Document Type

Undergraduate Capstone Project

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Lavita Nadkarni

Second Advisor

Peter Buirski

Third Advisor

Shaayestah Merchant

Keywords

Bilingual, Assessment, Case study, Vietnamese, Spanish, Psychotherapy, Language, Immigrant

Abstract

This paper reflects upon the increasing diversity of the United States and the subsequent necessity for mental health providers who can provide psychotherapy services in more than one language. Review of the current literature of clinicians who provide bilingual services highlight the challenges and rewards of working in a second language. The literature focuses on the experiences of those bilingual clinicians who are bilingual in English and Spanish. However, there is little to no research concerning clinicians who can provide psychotherapy in three languages. This writer speaks of her experience growing up in a bilingual Vietnamese-English household in Southern California and her journey of becoming fluent in Spanish. Lastly, she provides recommendations to training programs on how to support trainees who aim to provide psychotherapy services in multiple languages.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.

Extent

38 pages

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