A journey to improve Arabic-speaking young peoples’ access to psychological assessment tools: It’s not just Google translate!

One of the key challenges that counsellors and psychotherapists may now find themselves encountering is that of working with clients whose native language is not English. This is of particular importance when using psychological assessment tools published in English to ascertain difficulties in a client's native language and utilising these tools to help in assessing the level of risk, whether this be done through an interpreter or a multilingual therapist delivering therapy in their native language. This paper takes the reader through the process of translating the YP-CORE assessment tool from English (original version) to Arabic; it draws on the crucial personal involvements and experiences vital to good translation work and how a good translation must be informed by the challenges of delivering therapies in multicultural settings. The process illustrates some of the cultural (and possibly religious) influences that were at play during the translation process for the young people and their families. This article highlights the importance of cultural sensitivity and competence, as well as religious implications, that some individuals from an Arab or Muslim background might experience in relation to accessing counselling/psychotherapy or even just being seen to support such psychological services (as was the case for translating the YP-CORE). The crucial outcome of successfully creating an Arabic version of YP-CORE, which is now published online and available for use by professionals, also brings with it a cultural awareness of Arabic-speaking cultures and the possible implications of these when delivering counselling or psychotherapy and when constructing policies.