Do you speak Spanish.

Hola, and thank you for your question. I am bilingual/bicultural and have spoken Spanish for most of my life. Thanks to my fluency in the language, I have also worked with many Spanish speaking only clients and we've been able to develop a good therapeutic relationship to help them address their concerns in a culturally sensitive way.

In my experience I've learned that individuals who experience any kind of significant stressors or trauma, they usually do this in their native language. When someone's native language is not English, it can be difficult to express those experiences in English or another new language when they were experienced in another language. Being able to express stressors or past trauma that occurred in someone's native language, really should be verbalized in that language, when at all possible, whether that’s Spanish, French, Italian, or any other language, to help native speakers express themselves more appropriately and accurately. 

Trauma research suggests that traumatic memories, for example, may be encoded differently from other memories like a particular birthday party or visiting relatives during the holidays. If one can use the same language (in your case, the Spanish language) at the time of the experience to the language when it is being retrieved during a therapy session rather than trying to translate phrases and think about vocabulary or pronunciation, this can help promote the path to healing by allowing access to the memories through their native language.

Some individuals who are native Spanish speakers will try and express themselves in English if their clinician is not bilingual. They may feel shame or embarrassment at not being able to effectively respond to questions in English regarding a past trauma as they are learning to be bilingual themselves. But they usually struggle with effective communication as their experiences were in their native language and some significant details or emotions will be left out if they solely try to respond in an English translation.

It's also important for individuals, whose native language is not English, to feel confident about stating their preference for a clinician who is fluent in their native language. This will encourage more fluid narratives from the individuals. The goal is to help them process their trauma or stressors in the most effective way possible that will lead to healing from that specific trauma or stressor. Being able to use their native tongue can be hugely beneficial to meeting this goal.

I would be very happy to learn more about you and work with you to help you address any concerns/issues you are experiencing at this time.

Thank you.

Adlin de Cardi, MA LMFT