NOTIS’s Community Interpreters Division presents:
Stress and Interpreting
Presented by Eliana Lobo
NOTE: This is a pre-recorded workshop reformatted for on-demand viewing.
Available through February 25, 2029. You can register and complete the quiz anytime until that date.
This on-demand training examines the impact of physiological and emotional stress on interpreting performance and provides interpreters with practical, evidence-based strategies to manage stress in real time. Participants will learn how stress responses—such as fight, flight, or freeze—affect memory, attention, breathing, processing speed, and language conversion, and how these effects can compromise accuracy and completeness.
The course explains the cognitive and neurological demands of interpreting, including the increased processing load required when working between two languages, and how stress further reduces cognitive capacity. Through guided instruction and applied exercises, participants will learn techniques to regulate stress responses, manage processing lag (décalage), maintain focus, and intervene professionally when communication begins to break down.
Participants will practice self-calming strategies, flow-management scripts, and targeted skill drills designed to strengthen neuroplasticity and improve performance under pressure. The training emphasizes proactive preparation, self-monitoring, and continued proficiency development to support interpreters working in high-stress environments such as healthcare, legal, and human services settings.
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Describe the physiological stress response, including the fight-or-flight reaction, and explain its impact on interpreting performance.
- Identify how stress affects memory, breathing, attention, listening, processing time (décalage), and delivery.
- Explain the additional cognitive steps involved in interpreting between two languages and why stress increases the risk of errors.
- Apply self-calming techniques that activate the parasympathetic nervous system to reduce stress during interpreting assignments.
- Demonstrate strategies for managing the flow of communication using professional scripts for clarification, repetition, and pre-session introductions.
- Use targeted practice drills to strengthen neuroplasticity and increase resilience under cognitive and emotional stress.
- Develop personalized study and preparation plans to improve readiness for high-stress assignments.
Embedded knowledge-check questions are included throughout the recording to reinforce learning.
$30 NOTIS members, $55 Non-members (Click to Join NOTIS)
After registering, you will receive an email confirmation. If you do not receive a confirmation, your registration did not go through. Registration confirmation will include a video link, a quiz link, presentation slides, and instructions on how to receive a certificate of completion.
- Watch the recording (2 hours)
- Take a 20-question quiz
- Receive a certificate within five business days
A quiz link is on the registration confirmation and on the description of the recording. You need a passing grade of 80% for CEs to be awarded.
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Credits |
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| WA State DSHS |
2 general (Approval #869) |
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| WA State AOC |
2 performance |
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| Oregon Judicial Department |
2 general |
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| ATA |
2 self-study hours |
2 self-study hours may be able to claim ATA CEPs from this recorded event. Please go to the ATA website at https://www.atanet.org/certification/continuing-education-requirement/ and review 'Category B, Self-study' for more information.) |
| CCHI |
2 instructional hours (CEAP ID #9482) |
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| IMIA/NBCMI |
0.2 CEU (23-1209) |
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NOTIS issues proof of continuing education at the time it is earned. NOTIS does not guarantee the replacement of lost certificates.
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Eliana Lobo is a Certified Medical Interpreter and Trainer of Trainers, with M.A.s from Brown University in Bilingual Education, and Portuguese & Brazilian Studies. Beginning as a Spanish/Portuguese medical interpreter at Rhode Island Hospital, then becoming Trainer & Supervisor for Harborview Medical Center’s Department of Interpreter Services in Seattle, followed by National Director of Interpreter Quality for In Demand, and currently Director of Lobo Language Access in Tacoma Washington, Eliana provides consultation on language access plans, interpreter training curricula, and diversity & inclusion issues. Eliana is a regular speaker at healthcare interpreter conferences, presenter/co- host for NCIHC’s “Home for Trainers” webinar series, Board member and Chair of the Standards & Training Committee at NCIHC, and a former CCHI Commissioner.
Please note that on-demand workshops provide immediate access to the recording and course materials upon registration.
For this reason, all sales are final, and registrations are nonrefundable and nontransferable.
Email info@nostinet.org for questions.
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