Volunteering as a psychology graduate in Sri Lanka

Angela Pitt Start Date: May 11, 2017 - End Date: Oct 8, 2017
  • Professional Development
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Volunteer Trip
  • Sri Lanka

My Travel Story

by: Angela Pitt Start Date: May 11, 2017 - End Date: Oct 8, 2017
  • Professional Development
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Volunteer Trip
Hi everyone, my name is Angela Pitt, and I am currently studying psychology at Monash University. I am finishing my degree at the end of 2017, and heading off to Sri Lanka to spend 5 weeks volunteering with an organisation for psychology students and graduates called SLV Global. 
SLV is a voluntary organisation which started in 2010, founded 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 helping psychology students and graduates to gain valuable experience in a different culture. I’ll using my skills as a soon-to-be psychology graduate and joining SLV in Sri Lanka for 5 weeks in December on a Mental Health placement, which is something I am so excited about! 
The Mental Health placement involves working with individuals who suffer from mental illness in Sri Lanka. My role involves running activities for patients and using sensory, music and creative therapies to engage with patients on a variety of wards in multiple institutions. I will also be attending training 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 will be working with individuals with special needs, and teaching English to children and to young people on vocational courses.
During my time in Sri Lanka I will be placed in homestay accommodation with a Sri Lankan family, who generously open their homes to international SLV volunteers. In order to assist these families in providing for volunteers, and help SLV continue to run its fantastic programs, all volunteers pay program fees of several thousand dollars, which we are encouraged to fundraise. Your donations, however big or small, would mean the world to me, and to everyone involved with SLV. I promise to keep everyone who donates updated on my time in Sri Lanka! Thank you in advance for your support and genorosity!
  • Sri Lanka