Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Safety and Professional Services › SPS 1-299 - Professional Services › SPS 200 - Sign Language Interpreters › Chapter SPS 203 - Sign Language Interpreters; Scope Of Practice Restrictions › Section SPS 203.03 - Provision of services in a mental health treatment setting

Current through June 24, 2024
This section only applies to applications for licensure
					 received on or after September 1, 2023.
(1) Individuals who hold an active qualified
				  equivalency from the Alabama Department of Deaf Services may provide sign
				  language interpretation services in a mental health treatment
				  setting.
(2) Individuals who do not
				  hold the qualified equivalency must meet the following alternative pathway
				  criteria to provide sign language interpretation services in a mental health
				  treatment setting:
(a) Hold either a sign
				  language interpreter - advanced hearing license under s.
				  440.032(3) (d),
				  Stats., or a sign language interpreter - advanced deaf license under s.
				  440.032(3) (f),
				  Stats., and
(b) Submit
				  documentation, satisfactory to the department that they have completed a
				  minimum of 40 clock hours of training within the previous 2-year license cycle
				  including the following topics:
1. 'Mentoring
				  and supervision skills.'
a. Interpreting
				  methods and appropriate use of simultaneous, consecutive, and narrative
				  interpreting.
b. Knowledge of the
				  difference between interpreting and communication assistance or language
				  intervention.
c. Identifying care
				  providers, identifying mental health disciplines, and familiarity with milieus
				  and settings.
d. The role of an
				  interpreter as a professional consultant.
e. Professional boundaries.
f. Confidentiality and privilege, including
				  abuse reporting, the duty to warn, and protections specific to Wisconsin
				  statutes.
2. 'Mental
				  health knowledge.'
a. Mental health issues and
				  treatment options in Wisconsin.
b.
				  Specialized vocabulary used in psychiatric settings in both the source and the
				  target languages.
c.
				  Psychopathologies, including knowledge of the names of the major mental
				  illnesses treated in both the target and source languages.
d. Symptomology of major mental illnesses
				  experienced by the patients as presented within the psycholinguistic context of
				  the target language group.
e.
				  Assessment methods and understanding of the impact of interpretation when doing
				  an assessment.
f. Etiology and its
				  impact on mental health, hearing loss, and language.
3. 'Cultural competency.'
a. Treatment approaches.
b. Impact of cultural influences on
				  assessment and treatment.
c.
				  Inpatient settings and the various staff that will be working in those settings
				  and how interpreting and cultural differences can influence therapeutic
				  relationships in those settings.
d.
				  Outpatient settings, self-help and support groups and the specialized
				  vocabulary used in those groups.
e.
				  Influence of interpreting and cultural differences on therapeutic relationships
				  in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
f. Cultural views of mental illness, mental
				  health, behavioral health, and substance abuse specific to the populations the
				  interpreter works with.
g.
				  Constructs of deafness and hearing loss relative to majority/minority cultures
				  and pathological models.
h.
				  Sociological impact of cross-cultural mental health service provision and the
				  impact of an interpreter on the therapeutic dyad.
i. The impact of stereotypes on mental health
				  service delivery.
4.
				  'Substance use disorders.'
a. Specialized
				  vocabulary used in substance use disorder treatment in both the source and the
				  target languages.
b. Substance use
				  disorder theory and issues involving substance use disorder.
c. Assessment methods and treatment
				  approaches.
5.
				  'Disability knowledge.' Issues involving developmental disability and any
				  additional disabilities and the role culture and language plays in providing
				  services to people with developmental disabilities or additional
				  disabilities.
6. 'Practice
				  competencies.'
a. Personal safety issues,
				  including an understanding of at-risk conduct and personal boundaries as it
				  applies to mental health interpreting work and an awareness of de-escalation
				  techniques and universal precautions.
b. Assessing communication
				  effectiveness.
c. Matching the
				  interpreting method with the client and the setting.
d. The impact of emotionally charged
				  language.
e. Unusual or changed
				  word or sign selection.
f.
				  Linguistic dysfluency or marked changes in linguistic fluency within a
				  psycholinguistic context.
g.
				  Conveying information without alteration, emotional language without
				  escalation, and ambiguous or emotionless language.
h. Isolating peculiar features of eccentric
				  or dysfluent language use.
i.
				  Reading client case documentation and recording appropriate documentation of
				  linguistic significance.
j.
				  Personal mental health issues and maintaining the personal mental health of the
				  interpreter.
k. The impact of
				  personal issues on the interpreting process.
l. Awareness of countertransference in the
				  interpreter and familiarity with transference to the clinician or to the
				  interpreter.
(c) Submit documentation to the department
				  indicating that they have completed a 40-clock-hour supervised practicum within
				  one year meeting all the following requirements:
1. The practicum site must be primarily
				  clinical in nature.
2. The site is
				  approved by the practicum supervisor.
3. The work must be direct interpreting and
				  may not be social in nature.
4. The
				  practicum must involve both in-patient and out-patient practice.
(d) Submit documentation to the
				  department indicating that they have passed an examination approved by the
				  department on the topics covered in par. (b).