SLV.Global

Mental Health Activity Support Worker

July - August 2019 • Denpasar, Bali

What I liked

While my placement in Bali was volunteer-based, I gained valuable psychology experience during my one month there. I loved being able to run 1-2 hour mental health-focused sessions alongside other volunteers at one of Indonesia's only psychiatric hospitals, several rehab centers, orphanages, and schools, as well as interacting with the diverse service users from disadvantaged backgrounds, whose lives I was touching in a small way. I got to work with people between the ages of six to over sixty, so that was great exposure for me. Being able to get clinical experience by working with patients in a psychiatric hospital was invaluable to me. I also loved staying in a traditional Balinese homestay with a Hindu family in their beautifully-designed home. They truly made me feel like members of their own family, which helped with the homesickness in the beginning. I also really enjoyed getting to relax after a long week of projects by exploring Bali. I think my confidence really increased by practicing my Indonesian with all the friendly local people! The people with SLV.Bali are also incredibly friendly, compassionate, and accommodating, which aligns with their mission to always promote positive mental health. If you're hit with sudden illness and can't attend a project (which happened to me!), they'll be so understanding and go out of their way to help you. The SLV.Bali staff truly made this experience less stressful.

What I wish was different

Because everything is packed into a month, and a lot of the planning for sessions can be time-consuming (and relies on us volunteers having to go out to buy and create materials), I felt a bit stressed and pressed for time at some points, which affected my health (migraines!). Having weekends off did help a bit.

Advice

Go into this placement with an open mind and a desire to step out of your comfort zone. I definitely took a large step out of my own comfort zone just by even applying for this Bali placement, but it's well worth the time, effort, and money if you're interested in a psychology-related career, you just want volunteer experience, and/or you just really love helping people in need. If you've been raised with a predominantly Western mindset, prepare to have that mindset challenged as you learn about Balinese culture, beliefs, and healing traditions (there's a workshop given on Eastern medicine, and you're provided training about how to act sensitively toward Balinese culture).

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Volunteer Coordinator

May - August 2018 • Balikpapan, Kalimantan Timur

What I liked

Spending the summer volunteering in Bali was the most amazing experience! During this trip, I was able to confirm my true passion for pursuing a career in Clinical Psychology. While in Bali, not only did I gained hands on experience working with a multitude of populations (i.e. special needs children/adults, geriatrics, adult with mental illness at one of the main government funded mental health facility on the island, at-risk children in children's homes, and adult’s participating in day center programs all over the island), but also data entry from each session we ran, session planning, and the overall pastoral care of each intake of volunteers that came throughout my placement. I loved being able to not only learn from a clinical side by planning, running, and tracking each session we ran; but also from the populations we worked with. It was such a unique experience, being able to draw out each individual's strengths and work together to utilize them in the best possible way.

What I wish was different

While the experience was overall absolutely amazing, this placement is still in it's early stages. I think communication could be improved,in every aspect, between staff and volunteers and the directors of the projects. However, for how young this placement is, flexibility certainly helped strengthen the teams and the minor chaos that was caused through miscommunication and last minute schedule changes.

Advice

Pack plenty of supplies and brainstorm session plans ahead of time! Having a teaching background certain proved to be helpful, but I think just taking a bit of time to plan activities that could have psychological benefits would be a great idea! This will make it easier to think through what supplies and materials could be really useful to have for sessions while on placement.

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Psychology Volunteer

July 2018 • Balikpapan, Kalimantan Timur

What I liked

This volunteer placement enabled me to both develop my application of psychology in the real world and strengthen my team development and organization skills. Volunteers were given a great deal of agency over the workshops and sessions they were going to run with the service users. Service users ranged from infants to senior citizens, so there was exposure to a diverse age groups in which psychology plays different roles. All of this was also occurring in a different culture, which was a fantastic learning experience that opened up many perspectives that one usually isn’t exposed to in a Westernized culture.

What I wish was different

Becuase the project is still in its pilot stages, there were many instances when projects would get cancelled due to miscommunications between the program and foundations that we worked with. It was frustrating to have to relocate with no plan in mind, however, being able to think on your feet was also a skill that we learned to appreciate and develop.