HoneyHeroes!
for teachers and interpreters
The teachers and interpreters at HoneyHeroes! are an important link between the therapists and patients and their parents. Many psychiatric terms are not easily translated, if at all, into the family’s native language, and the therapeutic context requires a special degree of sensitivity to the cultural differences and how they are conveyed.
Training
For teachers and interpreters, we provide regular trauma-specific training. The content is divided into four modules over two years and includes psycho-educational, socio-educational and therapeutic units.
Supervision
We train teachers, who …
… teach refugee children and are finding it hard to organise their daily teaching timetable with a heterogeneous class structure.
… are not confident in dealing with schoolchildren with psychosocial problems.
… lack the knowledge to identify potential signs of trauma sequelae.
… are afraid that triggers in the school setting will force the children to relive the trauma.
We train interpreters, who …
… translate for us in the therapy sessions with the children as well as in the accompanying meetings with the parents.
… want to acquire knowledge about the symptoms of mental illnesses, their treatment options and therapy methods.
… would like to get a better understanding of their role in the therapeutic setting.
The meeting I interpreted today reminds me very much of my own story. The young person said that he doesn’t know whether his parents are still alive and explained how it haunts him. I still don’t know to this day whether my father is still alive. It is always snippets of one’s own story that one translates.
The interpreters’ translations give me more time during the therapy session to think about what has been said and focus consciously on the person I am dealing with.
A teacher’s typical story
There are more and more children who are acting out or withdrawn. Their minds have been damaged and their school is unable to sufficiently cope. This is especially the case at schools located in challenging social situations with a high proportion of children who come from families with a refugee background.
Voices
As a consultant involved in the further training and supervision of teachers, I am truly inspired by the HoneyHeroes! project. Besides giving me the opportunity to teach the necessary knowledge of trauma and organise exercises, I can also sit in on the respective classes and see much more clearly for myself the kinds of problems the teachers of refugee children are having and witness how suggested solutions have an immediate practical effect.
I found the practical exercises in the training sessions particularly helpful. For example, I now occasionally use body tapping for physical awareness. This brings the child back to the here and now. The fast support provides a great deal of stability and security. During supervision, I was recently able to discuss how to deal with a child’s death wish. On my own, I would have been helpless in this situation or would have been afraid of doing something wrong.
One girl started attending mainstream school classes from Year 2. She was learning much more slowly than the other children. In Year 4, she was still working on materials from the second year. The intelligence test score showed below-average performance. This is where the cooperation with the treating psychotherapist from the HoneyHeroes! team helped.
Refugee children start school with a double burden because they have to learn a new language and learn to read and write in this language at the same time. These processes usually take place one after the other.
Many children are completely overwhelmed by their school and learning situation. Some have never been to school in their home country and are physically restless, constantly rocking back and forth on their chair, for example, or making a lot of noise. Many of them exhibit very erratic behaviour that is not in keeping with the situation and can neither be controlled by me nor the child. This makes a lot of things unpredictable and they are unable to concentrate in an age-appropriate manner. The potential for violence during breaks is therefore very high.
An interpreter’s typical story
‘If parents don’t yet speak enough German, the therapists ask me to call the parents and invite them to an initial meeting with the HoneyHeroes! team at school. Some parents have already been told about HoneyHeroes! by their teachers, but many of them don’t quite understand what it is. I then explain to them on the phone that they can find out more about the service and ask lots of questions in the meeting with a therapist. I assure them that I will also be present at the meeting to translate for them. This often reassures them. With some parents, I explain what psychotherapy is over the phone. With others, I leave it to the therapists so that they don’t immediately react defensively.’
