Help Ashley get to Sri Lanka to do what she loves!

Ashley Slankard Start Date: Mar 30, 2016 - End Date: Mar 29, 2017
  • Professional Development
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Volunteer Trip
  • Sri Lanka

My Travel Story

by: Ashley Slankard Start Date: Mar 30, 2016 - End Date: Mar 29, 2017
  • Professional Development
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Volunteer Trip
Coming up in a few short months I am graduating from Colorado Mesa University with a Bachelors in Psychology with a Counseling concentration. These months leading up to graduation I was stressing out about what I was going to do after I graduate. As many of you probably know, I LOVE to travel and one day on my facebook page an AD comes up for SLV mental health placement volunteer program in Sri Lanka for Psychology students. I had never been so excited before, I spent hours doing research about this company and all the details of what I would be doing and then I set up a phone interview for the following day. I was so grateful to hear that I was accepted to be a volunteer with SLV and that they saw my passion for psychology and the mental health field just by having a 20 minute phone interview. I mean how awesome is this, I get to do the two things I love the most; travel and apply what i've learned over the past four years to real life! 

I will be working alongside with and supervised by licensed psychologists for 5 weeks and my fees include access to multiple training and workshops which will be an incredible learning experience. The different skills I will learn will both impact my career as a future clinical psychologist and also help me better understand the cultural differences in the mental health field. Being exposed to an experience like this is a great talking point in interviews and looks amazing on a resume. The psychology field is very competitive and to be my age and be able to say I have an experience like this under my belt will hopefully put me ahead of other candidates in applying for jobs in the future. I have had mixed feelings about college coming to an end (although I do plan on pursuing my Master's and Doctorate) because I LOVE to learn. I enjoy going to my psych classes and learning new things and how to be a better psychologist. and although I am ending school and will not be in classes for a while I get to look forward to all the things that I will learn in this process! Honestly if you ask me, you learn more in a hands on situation like this than you do in a classroom anyways.

I am passionate about volunteering for SLV because I will be able to make a lasting impact on the children and adults I will be working with. I anticipate that I will learn more about myself and my strengths and weaknesses as a future psychologist. Also,  I am eager to embrace a new culture that will be drastically different from what I know and I will come to have a better appreciation for these differences. 

The total cost of this trip is around $3,500, which includes the trainings/workshops, 24 hour supervision by a licensed psychologist, homestay accommodation with two meals a day, flight, various things such as travel insurance and vaccinations, and an irreplacable experience that my career will benefit from! I was hesitant about accepting my placement because of the expenses, but then I realized that this is a once in a life time opprotunity which my career will benefit from so I decided to do it anyways. Any donations no matter the price mean the absolute world to me. Thank you so much in advance for making this possible for me!!

Trip dates: May 15th, 2017 - June 16th, 2017
  • Sri Lanka