You are working as a counselor in a refugee center and have been assigned a translator since one of your clients does not speak English. The client is a woman who escaped her war-torn country after...

You are working as a counselor in a refugee center and have been assigned a translator since one of your clients does not speak English. The client is a woman who escaped her war-torn country after having been raped repeatedly by soldiers. She finds herself unable to cope with the mountainous guilt and shame for having let this happen to her. After a long conversation between the translator and the client, the translator turns to you and says “I am not able to translate into English what the client is trying to tell you. The closest I can get to is that she feels ‘buried.’”

1. What would you identify as challenges to working with a translator in a cross cultural counseling encounter?

2. What possible meanings do you think the term “buried” has for the client considering her context and situation?

3. What could you ask the translator to help you understand the term “buried”?