Send Cara to be a Mental Health Volunteer in Sri Lanka!

Cara Guthrie Start Date: Jul 25, 2015 - End Date: Aug 30, 2015
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Volunteer Trip
  • Sri Lanka

My Travel Story

by: Cara Guthrie Start Date: Jul 25, 2015 - End Date: Aug 30, 2015
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Volunteer Trip
Volunteering in Sri Lanka:
I'll be joining SLV in Sri Lanka for 3 months from October to December on their Graduate Mental Health Placement! SLV is a voluntary organization which was started in 2010 by a psychology graduate from the UK. SLV runs projects to help the local community, while simultaneously helping students and graduates gain valuable experience in a totally different culture. I'll be loaning my skills to this organization, and am really looking forward to developing new skills and gaining insight into what I see myself doing as a career.

What exactly will I be doing?
I'll be working with individuals who suffer with mental illnesses. I'll be running activities for patients and using sensory, music, and creative therapies to engage with patients on a variety of wards in multiple institutions. I'll also be attending workshops run by Samutthana, the King's College London resource center for trauma, displacement, and mental health. Their main aim is to train and support organizations and individuals to respond to the psychosocial needs of trauma suffererers (i.e., tsunami survivors and those who have experienced civil-conflict in Sri Lanka).

In addition to these projects, I'll also be working with individuals with special needs, and teaching English to children and to young people on vocational courses. I'll be using my skills to work with those who may be marginalized in Sri Lankan society. I'll be living, along with other volunteers, with a Sri Lankan family.  

Why is this important?
I'm so grateful to have found this opportunity for many reasons, a few being:

1) It's ethical, it's sustainable - it's not "voluntourism".
2) It's not about a fun trip for me, it's about serving the Sri Lankan community and figuring out where our passions/skills meet their needs. Please take a few minutes to watch some of the videos I've linked under "Online Information" to get just a glimpse of the need for the kinds of services SLV provides.
3) I couldn't have imagined a better-suited experience for me. I have really struggled over the past year, just as the co-founder of SLV did, to find a work experience that could build upon my existing skills, while also introducing me to new ones, sparking my interests, and helping me to figure out where I fit in the world. My next steps have been very elusive since I graduated, so I have to take this leap of faith and trust that this will be an invaluable contribution to my future.

This Campaign:
Those of you who know me well probably can imagine how uncomfortable this is for me - I am notorious for being horrible at accepting help! To help me (and you!) feel more at peace with these donations, I have some little incentives for my supporters:

- A donation is a donation, no matter how small! Everyone who supports my work in Sri Lanka will receive my eternal love and gratitude, and a HUGE thank you!
- For $10+ AND/OR for sharing this page with your friends/family: the password to my blog, where I will hopefully post (at least) weekly updates from Sri Lanka
- For $25+: the above, plus access to photos I take while I'm there (I can't take photos at the placements, but I'm hoping to encounter some gorgeous sights in my free time) - I'll put these either on Flickr, Shutterfly, or Dropbox
- For $50+: all of the above, plus a postcard with a little note from me while I'm in Sri Lanka (you'll just have to message me your mailing address)
- For $100+: all of the above, plus a personal photo OR video thank-you/shout-out from Sri Lanka
- For $250+: all of the above, plus lots of happy tears on my part, my undying devotion, and I will bring you back a small souvenir/trinket

THANK YOU in advance for your generosity and support (whether it's monetary or moral)!
  • Sri Lanka

Updates

8

  • FINAL AMOUNT RAISED FROM ORIGINAL CAMPAIGN

    So this is the last update you will see on this campaign page, because I have launched a new campaign that I will share tomorrow that reflects the new deadline given my date change. Before this campaign closes down tomorrow night, I wanted to share the final amount that you all have helped me raise, both online and offline!

    Drumroll, please...

    WE'VE RAISED $2,020! Can you believe it?! I am immensely grateful for all of the support I have received so far, from those who have funded to those who have shared to those who have been encouraging me throughout this process. I feel great about shifting my placement from October to January, and given how well we have done so far, I fully believe that it's possible to get this trip fully funded by December. Massive thanks to all! Keep an eye out for when I share the new campaign, and enjoy the rest of your weekends! <3

  • MUCH LOVE TO CCOP AND...CHANGE OF PLANS!

    This morning I had the pleasure of visiting the church that my dad pastors in Jacksonville, Christ Church of Peace, to tell them all about SLV and the work I will be doing in Sri Lanka. I already have two beautiful funders from CCOP, and I am told there will be a few more over the coming weeks! THANK YOU ALL again so so much for having me and listening to what I had to say. Your prayers and support mean the world to me!

    Speaking of plural weeks - PLOT TWIST! I am no longer heading to Sri Lanka this October. Don't you fret though! I've just changed the date a teensy bit, to give me more time to raise funds (including saving my own money by working at my current job for longer) and to just generally prepare mentally and physically for this big trip. My new departure date, as far as I know, will be January 18.

    Because of the way FundMyTravel works, I cannot extend the current fundraising campaign's deadline, SO a brand new campaign will be starting the first week of September, as soon as this one ends. Its deadline will likely be sometime in November, but that will be confirmed as soon as I find out when my new payment date is. The new campaign amount will essentially start over, because I will just make the goal whatever is actually left to raise, not the original goal. The total amount I need to raise will increase slightly though, as the January placement is 2 weeks longer, and because I just recently was informed about how scary the cost of vaccines is - eek!

    EVEN SO - my hope is to hit at least $1,000 by my original deadline of August 30. My current total is about $770, including offline donations, so I think we can do it!

    If you have been consistently reading these updates - God bless you! Thanks for keeping up with all of this and taking this journey along with me. Stay tuned for the new campaign next week! <3

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