Volunteering in Sri Lanka

Clare Bradley Start Date: Jan 10, 2018 - End Date: Mar 30, 2018
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Volunteer Trip
  • Sri Lanka

My Travel Story

by: Clare Bradley Start Date: Jan 10, 2018 - End Date: Mar 30, 2018
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Volunteer Trip
So this summer I'm off to Sri Lanka!
SLV is a voluntary organisation which started in 2010. Set up by Lucy Nightingale, a psychology graduate from the University of Manchester and Yasintha Rathnayake, a youth worker in Sri Lanka. SLV runs projects to help the local community while simultaneously helping students and graduates to gain valuable experience in a totally different culture. I’ll be loaning my skills to this organisation and am really looking forward to getting stuck in to a new culture. I’m fundraising, as I’ll be joining SLV in Sri Lanka for 5 weeks from June to July on the Psychology placement. While I'm not studying Psychology, mental health is a very important part of Occupational Therapy and this experience will be very beneficial. Mental health and its promotion is very prevalent in our society and I hope to be of some benefit to the people of Sri Lanka.

I will be working with individuals who suffer with mental issues in Sri Lanka. 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 be attending workshops run by Samutthana, the King’s College London resource centre for trauma, displacement and mental health. The main aim of Samutthana is to train and support organisations and individuals to respond to the psychosocial needs of trauma sufferers 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 with other volunteers and with a Sri Lanka family as well.

For those of you who donate I’ll keep you updated on what I'm up to on social media, mainly Facebook and Instagram and I might even make you all a Sri Lankan curry when I return home! Thank you in advance for your generosity and support <3 :) 
  • Sri Lanka

Updates

1

  • Flights Booked!

    Slowly getting through the checklist of all the things I need to do. Booked my flights today- leaving June 3rd :)
    Vaccinations next :o