Mental Health Placement in Bali, Indonesia

Brooke Laskowski Start Date: May 24, 2017 - End Date: Jul 22, 2017
  • Bali, Indonesia

My Travel Story

by: Brooke Laskowski Start Date: May 24, 2017 - End Date: Jul 22, 2017
SLV is a voluntary organization that started in 2010. This organization started 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 different culture. I am fundraising, as I’ll be joining SLV in Bali for 4 weeks from July to August on the Mental Health placement. 

There is a distinct lack of understanding about mental health conditions in Bali and few facilities where people can seek treatment if they need it. Traditional healers are more commonly consulted than a doctor for anything psychological, which means that those who need help are often ill for extended periods before ever seeing a medical professional. As a volunteer I will be working in Bali's only inpatient psychiatric facility and assist the exceptionally dedicated team by running therapeutic activities to provide much needed stimulation and human contact for service users. I will be trained by the team and have the opportunity to work on projects in a clinical setting, help with youth teaching, children's development, and special needs work. In addition, each week I will be able to attend a workshop focusing on global approaches to mental health.

This is an amazing opportunity for me as I am a Psychology student at the University of Minnesota and want to be able to expand my learning opportunities in the field!

My volunteering experiences so far include volunteering through FIMRIC while in the Phillippines for 3 weeks last summer, volunteering in two children's hospitals; one in Chicago and one in Minneapolis, and being a service learning volunteer at a women's shelter called the Ascension Place here in Minneapolis. I have been able to experience volunteering in the States and abroad and want to continue offering any help I can as well as expanding my education in the psychology field.

For those of you who want to help donate I’ll make sure to host a movie night at my place, run a quiz night, wear an outfit of your choice for the day, or do anything your heart desires (and appropriate) etc. Thank you in advance for your generosity and support! Any help is greatly appreciated :)!
  • Bali, Indonesia

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