by Cynthia M. Braden, MFT

 Here we are presenting a list of verbs commonly used by the psychotherapist when establishing the Frame of Therapy and providing Consejos (advice & recommendations) to clients. We are highlighting the usted form of the verbs in the Present Imperative Tense, in some cases also known as the 'command' tense or subjunctive tense.

We demonstrate usage of these verbs in the usted form as that is the appropriate and professional way to address clients unless they are a child or young person. So here you will only have to memorize one form of the verb, isn't that great? It is good to memorize and practice this form so you can confidently structure the treatment and also make common therapeutic recommendations.

Unlike English, some Spanish verbs are mysteriously reflexive. So when you are saying "Siéntese por favor" you are actually saying 'sit yourself down'. To further complicate matters, some common verbs may also be stem-changing in the imperative tense and/or may require a reflexive construction.

This is something that needs to be memorized as it can't be figured out intuitively so we're showing you a few useful ones here.

We will also present the form "Le recomiendo que..." (I recommend that...). The verb that follows this clause will need to be in the imperative tense (same as subjunctive) in the third person since you don't know whether or not the action you are requesting will be performed.

Remember, it's always a good idea to keep the concepts of Respeto and Personalismo in mind by adding Por Favor and Gracias often! Usually you can add that at the beginning or end of statements.

by Cynthia M. Braden, MFT

1. Relax

Yes, it is true that clients from Latin America talk fast... and that different countries have different accents, idioms and vocabulary meanings. This can create challenging conditions for the therapist in terms of comprehension. If you get too focused in the initial sessions on asking questions or giving interpretations when you don't understand completely, this puts a great language burden on you, and you may feel stressed out and not up to it linguistically. You don't have the vocabulary and syntax ready on the tip of your tongue. It's not natural. So to make it more natural, it can be as simple a matter as rote memorization for numerous important communications. Please excuse the effrontery, no offense intended, but if you're feeling overly stressed out when communicating with Spanish-speaking clients, you are probably talking too much! You can turn the focus of the session to a person-centered and open-ended style so you are not working harder than the client. You may have to be a little more patient, but you will gather the information you need to start implementing therapeutic interventions. Meanwhile the client will have a chance to 'Desahogarse' and in doing so, truly let you know what the presenting problems are and what the client has tried so far to fix them.

Let the client talk for a long while and don't get too worried if you're at 60% comprehension. You will get the gist and the context of the problem to get started. If, after you have listened for awhile (15 mins) you're still not getting it, here is a free video, Repeat & Clarify with statements that will get the client to repeat and rephrase what they are communicating to you so you can make sure you understand the whole picture and pick up on red flags and treatment considerations. Clients are always appreciative when 'gringos' care enough to make themselves able to communicate, so you can relax in knowing that hispanic clients appreciate you, and don't judge you if you make mistakes in grammar. 

2. Know Your Numbers

It may seem boring, redundant or non-clinical to spend a lot of time studying numbers, but a strong command of numerical concepts is essential for Spanish-speaking therapists. Think of all the ways we use numbers in therapy: appointment times and dates, cost of therapy, discounts and co-pays, dates of birth and other milestones, ages, addresses, phone numbers, etc. We have prepared a module to make it easy for you to practice numbers within the context of psychotherapy.

3. Practice Vocabulary

For this part, there is no magic, you will have to memorize lists of words and conjugations of most-used verbs. To develop your own style, we recommend noticing what types of things you often say to your English speaking clients and start writing them down and translating into Spanish. Make it your intention to look up words that you frequently use with your clients in English and create a lexicon for yourself. Start to really get that vocabulary under your belt.

4. Prepare

If you study and are ready with your lexicon, you will feel prepared to handle most clinical situations. If you have your own common therapist statements ready on the tip of your tongue, you know those statements will be correct and professional because you have practiced. You will feel confident as you notice the comprehension appear in your client's countenance. You won't be fumbling around talking while observing the confused or bemused look on your client's face. Oops! When that happens you know you haven't hit the mark. You can conduct your sessions professionally in Spanish as well as English by preparing. You already know how to be a therapist and implement therapeutic interventions. To add the Spanish speaking clients, you are adding one more layer of specialty to your skills. And it's a very specific layer. Give yourself a break as you are not putting pressure on yourself to become completely bilingual, but developing proficiency as a Spanish-speaking therapist. So you do have to memorize but it's a relatively narrow focus.

5. Same But Different

It is true that Spanish-speaking clients from different countries are going to express themselves somewhat differently in terms of vocabulary, speed, slang, idiomatic expressions and cultural manifestations. This would also be true of people speaking the same language, but from a different socio-economic status, region or ethnicity within the same language group. We could make the analogy that the language differences among Spanish-speaking countries might be like the idiosyncrasies in the speech of English-speaking persons from South Carolina versus Boston, Britain vs. Belize. It's all going to be English. We are often asked about learning Spanish from a particular country. The correct Spanish is going to be the same in any Spanish speaking country whether you are in Spain or Honduras, Mexico or Chile. The differences occur in word selection, pronunciation, accent, speed, usage and sometimes verb conjugations. 

by Cynthia M. Braden, MFT and Alfonso DiLuca

Psychotherapists, Counselors and Social Workers will be increasingly called upon to respond to the mental health needs of new waves of immigrants fleeing economic and political turmoil in countries/territories such as Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Take a quick look at the landscape of problems that are provoking Latin American citizens to flee their homelands and hope for better luck in other countries. Factors such as deepening economic crisis, threat of wars between neighboring countries, terrorism and narco-trafficking, fear of immigrants from other countries, food and water shortages, power outages, rampant unemployment and devaluation of currency are some of the reasons new immigrants from Latin America may appear in social service and therapy offices in English speaking countries.

Once prosperous Venezuela for example, now has its citizens standing in line for days to purchase simple necessities. In psychotherapy it is helpful for therapists to understand and appreciate the context that these clients may bring to our offices. Many are affected by a great level of stress, grief, fear and trauma and may lack the courage to talk about the reasons for their immigration.

The process of immigration itself only compounds the trauma as citizens have fled their countries and moved against their will to a foreign society where they don't speak the language or understand the norms. After working with hundreds of recent immigrants We have produced a video to help you talk to clients about sensitive immigration experiences.

Here are additional words and phrases that therapists should know:

Even though some of these problems are common in Latin America, many communities and countries enjoy peaceful lifestyles, and stable governments. So be careful to avoid over-generalizing. 

by Alfonso M. López and Cynthia M. Braden, MFT

Many of our students are treating children and families in therapy, and have asked for help with vocabulary for play therapy. For this blog, we will be working with the Tú  form as that is the correct form to use with children. This is an important distinction to study, as we usually recommend and teach the Usted  form for working with adult clients. So, in this blog you will see verbs, compound tenses and reflexive constructions focusing on the Tú  form. 

Recognizing that play is a developmental process that needs exercising; using games, fantasy play, dolls and doll houses, paper crafts, "floortime" or “floor play”, are appropriate interventions developmentally to use with children of all ages.

Play therapists may find it challenging to find the right words and phrases to use during the play itself, such as introducing the play options and working with the physical aspects of the play therapy session.
​

by Alfonso M. López and Cynthia M. Braden, MFT

Question: As a psychotherapist how do I understand and practice Respeto?

Answer: One way to demonstrate Respeto is to be comfortable using the Usted form in all your verb tenses!

Question: Wow! how do I do that?

Answer: We are going to show you a relatively simple and specific aspect of Spanish that you can study to improve your ability to use the Usted (polite) form instead of the Tu (familiar) form when interacting with clients and others in professional settings. 

When you are comfortable using the Usted form consistently in all your verbs, you are strongly demonstrating an aspect of Respeto. 

​
You will need a Spanish verbs dictionary like this one that conjugates each verb for you.

This is the Estar page.

Study the third person singular conjugation like where it is circled in red. That is the tense you want to choose when speaking to clients. 

To make phrases, questions and statements using the Usted form, choose the third person singular in past, present, future, conditional, imperative or any of the additional compound tenses you may want to practice using. 







Operationalize Respeto

To demonstrate Respeto make it your objective to consistently form sentences using the Usted conjugation of whatever verb you are using when speaking with clients, especially those who are older or of a higher rank.

Confirming that Respeto is still important to therapists well into the twenty-first century, our students report an improvement in client engagement and cooperation when practicing and implementing this aspect of Spanish within the therapeutic relationship.

We concur that using the Usted form instead of Tu, helps therapists improve the effectiveness of their practice principally by gaining the client's trust in the therapist and the therapeutic process.

We have heard children as young as three and four years old being called Usted by their parents in a pre-school setting. Most of the time though, we can safely use the form Tu when talking to younger clients. It is hard to pinpoint the exact age appropriate for the use of Tu, but it may feel awkward to say Usted to someone under twenty years of age. 

Curiously, for advanced-level Spanish speaking therapists who are not used to this concept, changing their habits, or getting used to using the Usted form may take more energy than for a therapist who is more of a beginner at Spanish.

So we recommend to start practicing the use of Usted early and often, not only in verbs but also in pronouns, articles, direct and indirect objects and open the doors to a more effective practice with your Spanish speaking clients. ​Our videos and teleconferences can help tremendously!

Tenemos dos opciones que le pueden beneficiar:

1. Tome las Clases deTeleconferencia Privada por Internet

Estas clases le ayudarán a:

- Romper el hielo” y a deshacerse del miedo inicial. 

- Saber cuál es su nivel de español para el ambiente terapéutico.

- Determinar cuáles son sus puntos fuertes y cuáles son que necesitan más trabajo 

- Trazar un mejor plan de estudio con el cual podrá obtener más por su inversión de tiempo y dinero.

Estas Clases por Videoconferencias además nos permiten diseñar un plan específico para cada uno de los estudiantes. Nos ayudan también a escuchar privadamente a cada estudiante en su pronunciación del español y así poder ver cuales lecciones les serán más efectivas.

2. Dedique tiempo regularmente para ver y estudiar nuestros útiles y dinámicos Videos por Internet. Usted podrá disfrutar de estos videos desde la privacidad de su hogar u oficina. Estos videos están diseñados especialmente para que el estudiante pueda verlos según su tiempo y conveniencia.

Trabajar con clientes Hispanos es más fácil de lo que parece si usted pone dedicación, esfuerzo y un poco de su tiempo cada día. Tome ventaja de nuestras clases individuales y empiece a mejorar su español terapéutico hoy. Send a question to Spanish for Mental Health Professionals.