I did a 5 week Mental Health Placement in Sri Lanka. I felt like I was really immersed in the culture by living with a homestay family and I gained some valuable experience from my time in the country. I also really enjoyed the fact that I could go and travel with other volunteers on the weekends, there's so much to do in Sri Lanka and everyone is so friendly. I volunteered in a number of different wards in the psychiatric facilities and I enjoyed teaching English (an experience I hadn't had before). I actually surprised myself and found this the most interesting part of the placement - having to think outside the box and keep people motivated and engaged to learn. Since returning from Sri Lanka, I have finished my masters. I felt my experience teaching made me a lot more confident standing up in front of a number of people and presenting my dissertation. I have also worked in the NHS where one of the service users I worked with was Sri Lankan. We were able to chat about mental health from a different cultural and spiritual perspective and I felt my professional relationship with him was improved by the fact I had volunteered in mental health in Sri Lanka.