SLV.Global Reviews 190

Amazing experience
The Sri Lanka Advanced mental health placement (5 weeks) was really interesting and hands on. Working in psychiatric facilities and in special needs schools/centres was the best part of the experience, as you gained valuable knowledge/skills from working with service users with little supervision, allowing you to plan your own sessions and run them however you want. SLV global have been great in making sure we are able reflect on the experience for CVs/applications by continuing to support us once we have completed the program.
Obviously the weekends we were allowed to travel were also brilliant as Sri Lanka is such a beautiful country, the only regret i have is not staying longer!

All the SLV staff were so lovely and welcoming. Thoroughly enjoyed all the NIMHANS talks and it is so nice that they take time out of their day to come speak with us. I learnt a lot about the mental health perspectives in India and I would highly recommend this opportunity to others! Everything was well thought out and organised and both the two weeks ran smoothly.
Thanks for an amazing two weeks SLV- shame it wasn't longer!

Joining SLV was one of the best decisions i ever made. If you're thinking about doing it, do it! I completed the 12 weeks course in Sri Lanka. I think doing as long as possible allows you to get a much better understanding of the way of life in Sri Lanka. I gained valuable experience and made friends for life in the process!

Very good experience and very good support the whole way through my 5 Week placement in Sri Lanka, my only complaint for the whole experience is that there are some costs of living that were unmentioned and the cost of certain necessities such as transport was not fully disclosed.

I recently got back from completing the 4 week mental health placement in Bali, apart from being on one of the most beautiful places on earth, the experience I gained from working with the service users was invaluable.
I worked in so many incredible places with so many incredible people. From the planning of the sessions to persevering with a tricky service user in the psychiatric ward to doing yoga with the local geriatrics in the village, I honestly couldn't of got more out of my experience!
Non-verbal communication was something I was worried about as most service users do not communicate in English very well however, making the effort to learn the smallest bit of Indonesian (and even Indonesian sign language) and not being scared to be overly expressive with demonstrations meant our session went smoothly as more service users were engaged for a lot longer and understood what you wanted of them much sooner than if we had just kept talking at them in English.
This is honestly the best thing I've ever done, if you're considering applying, definitely go for it! You won't ever get experience like this at home and once you come home, you'll want to go back!

I came back from my 12 week advanced placement in Sri Lanka at the beginning of June, and even two months later I think about my amazing experience there every day. I was debating doing this placement for a few years previous, and I had even applied 3 times in the past. In the end I realised that there would never be the 'right' time and I simply did it and didn't look back, with the thought that I could simply just come home if I didn't like it. Little did I did know that 12 weeks later I would be wanting anything else but to come home. I felt welcomed into the country from the minute I arrived, and because you are immersed in the culture and surrounded by amazing people in the same situation, you feel at home almost instantly. The SLV team over there are incredibly caring, and are always available if you need them. In the second week I needed to make a trip to the hospital and they were sure to make sure I got the right treatment and felt at ease.
The work itself can be very challenging but very rewarding. In particular I found the teaching projects to be the most rewarding, as I saw a real improvement in English speaking from just the 12 weeks I was there. Despite how hard the days are, without a doubt it's all forgotten once your eating Mums (Ama's) home made curry around the kitchen table with your Sri Lanka family in the evening.
Every day is different, and you stay so busy both in the week and travelling at the weekends that it's nearly impossible to miss home.
Before I came I had no experience teaching or being with children, and by the end the teaching projects were my favourite. Therefore, do not let a lack of specific experience put you off.
The placement is a real chance to surprise yourself every day, and to really build your confidence permanently. If anyone is reading this and wondering whether the placement is for them or not then I say just do it!

I would highly recommended SLV Global to anyone looking to gain valuable experience both in a clinical settings and in the wider community with a variety of individuals. I took part in a 6 week placement in Sri Lanka and a 4 week placement in Bali and thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the culture. The placement set out was perfectly done, with a packed out week of projects and free time at the weekend to enjoy what else the country has to offer. Both nationals and SLV mentors were very supportive throughout the placement and made the experience as enjoyable as possible.

Volunteering for SLV.Global was an incredible experience. The amount of things you do, places you visit and - above all - people you meet along the way is just invaluable and almost impossible to put into words.

I really think participating in the Bali placement has helped me discover more than ever before and put into practice some skills future employers will look for like creativity, problem-solving, time management, teamwork, non-verbal and verbal communication, emotion management and emotional intelligence.

I deeply thank SLV for the opportunity they provided me with, it went well over any expectation I've had for the 10 months prior to my departure: I loved every second of it!

An advice for those who'd like to do it: just try and put as much effort as you can into this, you'll get so much out it will be incredibly overwhelming!

I have just returned from 5 weeks on the advanced placement in Sri Lanka, the experience was better than I anticipated. There was so much in-country support from supervisors / peer mentors / staff and fellow volunteers who had been there a few weeks longer! Although projects were often very tiring it was all worth it to see the differences we were making to these peoples lives on a daily basis. I would highly recommend doing a placement with SLV if you are interested in psychology work experience as we got involved in lots of things that wouldnt be allowed or would be very hard to get experience in the UK.

A life-changing experience. Bali was so beautiful in itself, the diverse mix of service users and individuals worked with was so humbling, very well organised and plenty of support provided. What an adventure!

The whole opportunity was incredible. The team both in London and in Bali were amazing and couldn’t do enough for you. In country support was amazing, and I love it so much that I’m really contemplating doing a further placement next year. Would fully recommend to any psychology student looking to gain experience in a non western context.

I went to Bali with SLV from June 11th to July 6th, and it was the most amazing experience of my life. The coordinators and managers were amazing and were extremely helpful, friendly, and welcoming. All of the other volunteers were incredible and we all became a large family very quickly. The placements were an very unique and were excellent opportunities to work hands on with mental health in a variety of environments. On top of all this, Bali is a beautiful place to go, which made everything that much better. I would recommend the SLV Bali Mental Health Placement to anyone interested!!

Sri-Lanka (18th June-20th July)
I went to Sri-Lanka for 5 weeks. It was such a great experience. I met some great people and learn a lot about myself. The projects were great. The time out there is tiring but all the effort you put in is worth it when you see the difference you make, even if it is just a smile on a service users face. The experience is invaluable!

My SLV.Bali July 2-27, 2018 placement was phenomenal. All of the planning and behind the scenes work was done so flawlessly by the project managers, supervisors, and coordinators. The SLV team was great at keeping close communication with the volunteers to nature we were all happy, healthy, and able to put out our best work at the projects. I will be raving to all of my psychology friends back home about how amazing SLV is and hopefully I’ll be back for another placement next summer!

Was great experience, but could have been given more info on what to expect during projects/commute (e.g. speakers are pretty much essential, paying for bus rides to and from projects etc.)

I went on the SLV.Bali Mental Health Placement for 12 weeks in 2016.

I gained such valuable experience from working in psychiatric facilities, government run schools and community iniatives. I particularly loved the sessions we ran in East Java at the psychiatric facility. Being able to gain this hands on, practice experience has boosted my CV and been so useful in interviews. I have now been lucky enough to have been offered a role working in the mental health sector!

Thank you SLV.Global for providing such a worthwhile and fun experience.

SLV was a great experience, offering me a unique opportunity to work in psychiatric hospitals and alongside psychiatrists. Throughout the placement, there was great support (both people and resources) and the training and workshops that were available were really insightful. For me, I would have preferred more work in specialised psychological placements, rather than schools.

SLV Global provided me with a unique opportunity to experience mental health in a different cultural context, and gave me the confidence to run a session for various groups of individuals. Whether it be teaching english, special needs or working with those with mental health conditions it all was a fantastic learning curve. On completing my 3 month placement I saw improvement in service users which I was not expecting to see in such a short period of time, and seeing the positive impact many of the sessions had on the service users made it well worth it. Having travelled a fair bit this was a completely different experience altogether, living in a local area with a beautiful Sri Lankan family and getting to know and respect their cultural and social norms made the experience sometimes more challenging but all the more richer.
Thankyou SLV!

I had a great experience immersing myself in the Sri Lankan culture. It was truly eye-opening living and working within an entirely different culture; I learned a lot from my 5 week placement and I'm glad I did it. Although the placement is called a mental health placement, projects were split equally between mental health projects, special educational needs and teaching English. I enjoyed the variety of projects as I discovered a new love for working with children with special educational needs; however, I felt that the mental health experience I gained was, although extremely valuable, also extremely limited, as due to confidentiality restrictions we could not be informed which specific mental health conditions the people we were working with had.

During my 6 week placement in Sri Lanka I had an experience I would recommend everyone have. My homestay family were warm and welcoming! We still have phone calls every now and then. The volunteers you have the privilege of working alongside are truly wonderful caring people who are out there for the right reasons, and support you on your journey just as you do in return. I cannot praise the permanent staff enough for all they did to aid volunteers, I am extremely grateful to have met them and laughed with them. I would 100% recommend the Sri Lanka placement, I definitely intend on returning. And to everyone considering completing this placement, I can guarantee you will meet the most wonderful service users who will put a smile on your face and bring you out of your comfort zone (which is never a bad thing). I urge you to participate in the culture as much as possible, the food is delicious, the language is so fun to learn, and the country is beautiful.
The projects you undertake are extremely varied throughout the week and you get to interact with a variety of people, from individuals with mental health concerns to those with physical disabilities. During these projects you get to use your knowledge of psychology to implement activities that are best suited to the needs of the service users. I feel there is a lot to learn from this experience, and I do not recommend passing up the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful programme.