SLV Mental Health Volunteer Placement in Sri Lanka & India

Clare Gallagher Start Date: Feb 8, 2018 - End Date: Nov 7, 2018
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Professional Development
  • Volunteer Trip
  • Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • Mysore, Karnataka, India

My Travel Story

by: Clare Gallagher Start Date: Feb 8, 2018 - End Date: Nov 7, 2018
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Professional Development
  • Volunteer Trip
SLV is a voluntary organisation which started in 2010. The brainchild of 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.

In 5 months I will be boarding a plane to Sri Lanka and then India to undertake 7 week voluntary Mental Health Placement abroad with SLV – a UK based organisation that provides students and graduates with hands-on work experience abroad in the mental health sector. I would be so grateful if you could support with funding my placement in any way.
This exciting and challenging placement will give me the crucial skills I need to take the next steps in my career. It is a unique opportunity I have been offered to combine volunteering abroad with gaining hands-on work experience.

In Sri Lanka, I will be working with individuals with special needs, teaching English in the community to children aged 3-12 and young adults aged 17-25. I will be running all project activities, working in a team with other volunteers and taking responsibility for using my skills to work in under-resourced centres. I will be working 5 days a week living like a local, travelling on local transport and staying with a Sri Lankan family.

In India the program is run in partnership with National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience NIMHANS and the School of Ancient Wisdom, our program is facilitated by renowned clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, many of whom double as yogis, and are equally passionate about Ancient Eastern modalities, like mindfulness, Ayurveda and yoga. Through five actively informative and immersive days I will have the opportunity to explore, more closely, how ancient Eastern techniques can complement modern methods to treat mental health concerns, in both clinical and community settings.

I will have the chance to tour the impressive NIMHANS facilities and enjoy an audience with many of its clinicians, who will speak with us on a variety of topics around how India treats mental health issues both medically and culturally.  I will also visit the Neuropathology Brain Museum, and get up close and personal with the grey matter itself (brains), participating in interactive workshops on topics ranging from meditation to multicultural perspectives in work with children and adolescents.

I am really looking forward to working in a completely new culture in a challenging environment and SLV’s focus on ethical and sustainable projects is something that really stood out to me about them. The fact that this is a work-experience placement and not a holiday is a really important aspect of why I chose to apply to volunteer with them.

My placements cost £2560 not including flights and I am working and fundraising hard, hoping to raise around £500 towards it! Having your support would make such a difference to me!

  • Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • Mysore, Karnataka, India

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