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SLV.Global Reviews

4.5 Rating 191 Reviews

91 %

of reviewers recommend SLV.Global

Company Reviews

4.5

Based on 191 reviews


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SLV.Global 5 star review on 9th March 2024

SLV.Global 5 star review on 9th March 2024

SLV.Global 5 star review on 28th February 2019

SLV.Global 5 star review on 3rd October 2018

SLV.Global 5 star review on 3rd October 2018

SLV.Global 5 star review on 1st August 2018

SLV.Global 5 star review on 4th August 2017

6

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Helpful None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“I wish I'd knew where the money goes to volunteers pay. Someone makes a lot of profit, that's for sure. One of the worst things was that I felt like being in a cult, getting brainwashed. The international coordinators seemed to be mostly people who enjoyed their "power", bossing people around. The "homestay" (I would rather say family-run guesthouse) was absolutely overcrowded (19 people), I haven't seen anybody who established a real relationship to a family member other than saying "thank you" and "that's delicious". Breakfast included meant you get bread and some slices of fruits - you bring tea, sugar, honey, butter, jam.. For dinner you bring sth to drink. Calling a placement "psychology" placement when 90% of the time you do not deal with anything psychology related is a joke, or rather a rip-off. "Guided" psychology projects - there were no doctors you could talk to (except one field trip). You just do occupational therapy: crafts, dancing, singing etc. Can be wonderful, but if you sign up under the impression you will learn about psychology ... seems to work for graduate students with no travel and work experience and who like to be treated like elementary school children.”

Posted 8 years ago

Hi Liz, thanks for taking the time to write this. I'm sorry that your time on placement was not what you were expecting. We believe all of the projects where we work have a mental health benefit for service users. In fact, any question on the clinical psychology doctorate application can be answered using examples form the work carried out on placement and many previous volunteers have gained a place by doing this. We also totally agree that the lack of mental health professionals in Sri Lanka is an issue, which is why we work there, but is also why we don't advertise any "shadowing" as it's simply impossible to do with the current resources. We're sorry if you were expecting something different. And as much as we would love to house, feed, train, support and transport volunteer team members for free it's just not possible, which is why there is a cost, but we use our funds incredibly carefully and are constantly reinvesting in the communities where we work. We really appreciate your feedback and are always working to improve, so we have taken your suggestions on board and appreciate you sharing your experience.

Posted 6 years ago

“Alright experience but not worth the money. I spent four weeks on the Advanced Bali Mental Health Placement. I met some lovely volunteers, amazing service users and supportive coordinators. However I really struggled with the transparency of SLV in the way they spend our fees. Firstly you have to pay a £250 deposit to secure your place after you apply. You have a week to pay it once you commit. They call/email you almost everyday and warn that you will lose your place if you don’t. Please don’t just pay it due to the pressure. If you miss the deadline you can re-apply and you will probably get a place again as long as there’s still space. Also you would think the deposit contributes towards your £1400 fees like a normal deposit would but it’s doesn’t, it’s just an extra expense. You have to pay the full £1400 after that for the fees. Also before securing a specific placement date with the deposit I asked for the other dates they had available and they were very reluctant to give any information on dates over the phone. I had to ask multiple times. This is so backwards to me because we are paying for a service and should be given all the information when asked. Although we are volunteering for this wonderful cause, we are also putting our own lives on hold from our jobs and university therefore information should be as forthcoming as possible. Furthermore we have to pay for our own flights, visa, new wardrobe, lunch every day, weekend transport/hotels/food etc as we are not allowed in the accommodation over the weekends. I’ve been told only 15% of fees are contributed to the well-being and mental health of Balinese people. Furthermore the projects we are taken on are paid for by us, it’s not “volunteering”. We are paying for the experience. Apparently most volunteering companies do this which I was shocked by but maybe that’s just the way it is. Onto the accommodation. In the information pack given to us in the months before the placement we are told we will be staying with a traditional Balinese family; that they are welcoming us into their home with open arms and doing this amazing thing for us. Then the first day we enter the village we see a big placard with each of the homestays names and phone numbers on in case you want to ‘book a room’. These homestays are hotels to the general public too and anyone can book a room there... even on booking.com. I have looked online and the rooms are around £6 a night. We only spend 15 days in the homestay therefore only £90 of our fees go to accommodation on the placement (I haven’t included the hotel we stayed at during the first week for training and the jungle weekend). Again SLV is not forthcoming with the information they have given us, making it out that we are this big burden to the family and that we should be eternally grateful, giving them gifts when we arrive etc. Yet again we are paying for a service. I have to be honest about the quality of accommodation too. The rooms are nice inside and cleaned once a week. But you are given one fan between four people, which is hard in 30 degree heat. Furthermore there are real issues with the food. The breakfast is a stale piece of toast that has been sat out for a while, fruit, and either a cold fried egg or cold pancake. Which is supposed to sustain us from 7am until 1pm during projects and project planning. Again this is what we have paid for in our fees. Please note that apparently not all homestays are like this. Some other volunteers were given as much they they liked, while others were the same as mine. I even spoke to the SLV staff about this and they said that was unacceptable. They told me they would sort this, and when I came back from the weekend it will have changed. This was in the first week in the homestay, by the final week nothing had changed. On the other hand dinner was much better with portion sizes, and tastes great too. Also please note that the home stay families are the nicest people you will meet. They are so lovely and do look after you like their own, however SLV made it out to be that us staying was a huge burden and that we should be super grateful. When in fact it’s a hotel we are paying for. It’s the exaggeration of facts that is the problem. Another problem with this placement is the project planning. We are given every Monday and Wednesday afternoon to project plan for the week ahead. This is not nearly enough time. In the information provided by SLV before signing up you are told you have evenings and weekends off to relax. This is not true. On my placement there were volunteers working until 11pm trying to sort out activities for the upcoming projects. Others had been walking around the village in pitch black at 9pm to get to the printing shop so they have enough resources for their projects. I wouldn’t even be allowed to walk twenty minutes in the dark at home, let alone in a foreign county when guard dogs are barking at you while you pass them in the street. My parents weren’t happy about this. I bought this up to SLV staff and they said they did say that they didn’t want anyone walking around at night for projects or working so hard to the point we are stressed out. But this information wasn’t passed on to the whole group, and volunteers still felt obligated to work this hard because projects fell completely on our shoulders. If we didn’t pull through then the service users would have nothing do to and it would make us and SLV look bad. This was a lot of pressure. The staff were very supportive in regards to these points and always offered to help prepare for projects or offer ideas which was good and really appreciated. Projects ranged from teaching English to staff at a local medical hospital, to practicing yoga with the geriatric village community, to conducting cognitive activities to those in the only psychiatric hospital in Bali. Each project gave valuable experience if you are looking for a career in psychology, but also in a general sense. It abled me to become more confident and allowed me to develop skills working with a wide range of people from all different backgrounds (other volunteers). It must also be mentioned, however, that some volunteers felt they didn’t have a great variety of projects given to them in their weekly timetable. For example they would have two different English teaching sessions, with service users that were either from the local school or staff and the medical hospital. And then a yoga session with the geriatric village community Although these projects are valuable to these service users it doesn’t have much to do with mental health (although yoga can promote positive mental health). But it meant that half these volunteers week wasn’t what they hoped it would be, or what they expected from the SLV mental health placement. This didn’t happen to me directly, but it was something that was mentioned on my placement that some volunteers were unhappy with. Finally this is a FOR PROFIT TOURIST COMPANY. Not a charity. For these reasons I gave the placement and application process through SLV one star.”

Posted 4 years ago

“I would not recommend SLV to anyone. They are highly unorganized and as a volunteer I could see how poorly they treat their staff. Because the staff is treated so badly with little time off and too much responsibility, the volunteers suffer. I was sexually assaulted on a bus going to my homestay from y projects. I was with several other people and "was doing everything right." When I brought it to the attention of my supervisor, she told me "I don't have time for this right now." Later that same week, that same supervisor pulled me aside to schooled me because she said she had heard " I was talking about personal matters with other volunteers. " all in all, I absolutely loved the work that I did there and want to go back! However, I would not recommend this poorly run organization to anyone.”

Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for taking the time to write this review. I was so sorry to read about this experience. This is unacceptable behaviour and, again, I am sorry that you were on the receiving end of this difficult communication when you were already feeling vulnerable. I would like to highlight that supervisors are also volunteers and that they do work hard, but that is no excuse for this behaviour. I apologise again for this experience, as this is highly unusual and inexcusable. I have been personally investigating this and would love it if you could provide me with more information. I'll message you privately.

Posted 6 years ago

“The best experience of my life! I got to explore Sri Lanka and all of its wonderful culture, whilst teaching some of the most amazing kids and adults I have ever met. I got to see how the other side of the world copes and treats mental illness and it was an unforgettable eye-opening experience, definitely one of a kind. I would happily volunteer with SLV again and would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a memorable opportunity. I couldn't have asked for anything more.”

Posted 9 years ago

“A really amazing experience. Volunteering for SLV provides a chance to become part of a culture far from that of the UK. You get to live like a Sri Lankan and meet people from so many different backgrounds. Working on such challenging projects and being faced with situations that not many other people in the UK have been faced with, helps you to develop key life skills. For example, cross-cultural communication and resilience. My points for improvement are that the projects can sometimes get a bit repetitive on the 12 week programme. It would be better to have a complete change in the monthly timetable, rather than just changing maybe one project. Also the website needs to make it clearer that all the psychology projects provide Occupational Therapy experience, rather than clinical experience. And that you are given more teaching projects than psychology projects. These teaching projects are very enjoyable and beneficial but this point just needs to be made clear before people sign up to the programme. It also needs to be made clear that no matter how many weeks of the programme you do (4, 6, 8, 10 or 12) all the projects are exactly the same. I felt as though I was misled into thinking that the 12 week programme was distinctly different than if I'd done a programme with fewer weeks. And this is important to think about in terms of costing. Overall, although there may be some improvements needed for the programme, it was a really amazing experience that I will not forget.”

Posted 9 years ago

“The support SLV gives volunteers both before, during and after their placement is outstanding. It is refreshing to see a volunteer company whose focus is not on money, voluntourism (grief-tourism) but giving the opportunity for people who have a passion for teaching, psychology, OT, sports to not just work in small communities but become a part of them. Learning their customs and gaining a vast amount of on site, first-hand experience, vital to students and graduates. I would suggest a clearer outline of exactly what clothing is suitable (putting up photos of volunteers' outfits that are ok/not ok, like in the welcome meeting) would be really helpful. A lot of my clothing was not acceptable and I know others were in the same situation. There was also an issue with money being lost in our area. A reminder should be provided in the volunteer's pack that they must remember that their belongings should be locked away and having lots of money left in their rooms is a bad idea. Although this may seem pretty obvious in hindsight, the close knit community created in the home stays means a lot of people forgot this. It's a shame as this put such a big dampener on people's stays. A small cash safe would be a great provision to eliminate such issues and help put people's minds at rest. It would also be great if there was a volunteer 'guest book' in each home stay. Volunteers could write where they've been, good places to stay (and places to avoid), put business cards of people who've treated us well, along with rough guides to Tuk-Tuk prices. There's nothing worse arriving late at night with no idea how much we should be paying to get to hostels etc. It would be a great way for past volunteers to share their good experiences and give back to businesses who have treated us well!”

Posted 9 years ago

“I could easily rate how SLV placements gave me the opportunity to practice therapeutic activities, go to great workshops and training, and gave me great experience for my CV and opportunities you would not be able to get in the UK. But that would not give the placement its' justice. The best part of the 10-week placement, for me, was being able to see the impact that consistent and constant support gave to particular service users and also the overall impact to the communities. If I was able to see that in my short time there, then it is quite unimaginable the impact that SLV has had in the past and will continue to have in the future. The most important thing for this placement is to have no expectations, because all western preconceptions will not be applicable to Sri Lanka.”

Posted 9 years ago

“overall the projects are fantastic. The psychology placement is probably the weakest project but gives people something great for their CV. I however feel if it going to be called a psychology placement then there really ought to be more hours at NIMH and Halfway house. While I realise they are very intense places and the language barrier makes it difficult to build proper therapeutic relationships I feel that if people were visiting daily rather than once a week they would be able to gain a lot more as would the patients. In order to do that I realise you would have to change the placement a lot and I feel that making the number of people on the psychology placement much smaller and it something only for the most dedicated volunteers to do would greatly improve the project. I don't think it would take away from the over all number of volunteers as the other projects run are of a very high quality, better than some other organisations I know about.”

Posted 9 years ago

“I have just completed a month with SLV. It was better than I expected, very hands on. We received every support and guidance from the organisers. They offer a great experience for those interested in working in the field of mental health. They are in the process of rebuilding the organisation after being very impacted by Covid and I wish them every success because I believe that they are offering a very worthwhile service.”

Posted 9 months ago

“I signed up to SLV on impulse, I had never travelled abroad on my own before and was worried about everything! I chose the 4 week placement in Sri Lanka as my first placement. I was initially terrified to be in a new environment with complete strangers but SLV went above and beyond to take care of all of us. My favourite memory of the Sri Lanka placement was receiving feedback from some parents of children in a teaching project. They really appreciate the work that SLV does and I realised how impactful our volunteering is for the community. With SLV you are part of a lifeline for communities and to be a part of something so special was such an honour. I loved their Sri Lanka placement so much that I chose to go to India this year with them! I learnt about the application of Western psychological practises to Eastern culture. I learnt about how mental health is starting to become more accepted there and what barriers there are against seeking mental health aid. I learnt yoga and mindfulness all whilst completely immersed in a wealth of culture. With SLV I have made friends for life, made memories for life and had the best time I could possibly imagine. I highly recommend volunteering with them.”

Posted 10 months ago

“SLV Sri Lanka is amazing and its going with the very flexible budget. It s clearly life changing program. After Covid pandemic they have rebuilt the SLV Sri Lanka program very well.”

Posted 11 months ago

“Taken my £250 deposit and had no contact since the company has closed, no way of getting it back.”

Posted 2 years ago

“Hi, they also ran off with my money. Is there any legal recourse available? Thanks”

Posted 3 years ago

“You took £1300 off my daughter, trip cancelled And Now youre Refusing To acknowledge Her request for a refund - youre criminals! You should be ashamed”

Posted 3 years ago

“Very disappointing behaviour from SLV Global. My daughter booked a placement in Sri Lanka for August 2019 and paid the £250 ‘Placement Acceptance Fee’. Due to the situation in Sri Lanka the placement was cancelled by SLV, quite rightly. However, SLV will not refund my daughter’s £250 fee which they describe as ‘non-refundable’ even though they have cancelled the placement. There are no suitable alternative placements. She is a student and her resources are very stretched so this mean and petty policy of SLV is quite a blow to her. I cannot think of another business that takes payments from customers, then fails to offer the product or service but keeps the customers’ money. Dreadful treatment of student customers. To be avoided.”

Posted 4 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to write your feedback, Mr. Morris. The situation in Sri Lanka this Easter was horrific and unexpected. We are saddened that it happened and that your daughter and her team weren't able to join us in Sri Lanka this summer as planned. Our main aim has always been to be fair to all our volunteers, and we are proud that despite the events that took place in Sri Lanka this summer we were able to offer everyone the chance to join an alternative placement in either Bali or India. We are always explicit and transparent that the Placement Acceptance Fee is non-refundable, as this fee covers all the pre-departure support and administration required to make the placement preparations for the team. The Placement Acceptance Fee does not make up part of the costs of her time abroad, but was used to support her from the time she joined our team in January. This includes all the correspondence we had with her, all the advice provided to help her prep for her placement, and all the subsequent support offered after the tragedy to try and find a suitable alternative for her and her teammates. We were sorry to hear that other plans had been made for your daughter and that she wouldn't be able to join us in another destination, but we did agree that as a gesture of goodwill we would be very happy to transfer her Placement Acceptance Fee to an alternative placement in the future. We are sorry that your daughter was unable to join us this summer, but we would still love for her to join us on one of our teams if her future commitments allow it. Thanks again.

Posted 4 years ago

“I really enjoyed my experience in Sri Lanka. I met and worked with some amazing people and got to do things I wouldn't normally get to do which was a lot of fun. It was also amazing having the weekends to explore a beautiful country, and we are able to learn a lot about the culture as we were completely immersed in it. However I do feel like it was a bit expensive. We paid a lot of money, then were constantly asked for money for extra things when we were there, e.g. paying for minibuses. I also feel like it would be beneficial to have more informative things, like the field trips, as I feel like I did a lot of arts and crafts, which I loved doing and so did the service users, but I would like to learn more about the theoretical side of things as well as actually doing them.”

Posted 6 years ago

Thank you for your comprehensive feedback, Sarah! We're glad you enjoyed the projects as well as the travelling at the weekend. We appreciate volunteering abroad can be a large financial commitment and we take your valued advice on board in the effort to provide more information to volunteers prior to the placement. We agree the field trips are educational and interesting for volunteers, however, it is not always possible to take part in multiple trips due to time constraints. We hugely admire your dedication and we're happy you joined us in Sri Lanka. Best of luck for the future, we are always here if you want to discuss these points further, or should you need anything at all. :)

Posted 6 years ago

“I spent 8 weeks in Sri Lanka on the Psychology placement and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone. I gained so much from working at the projects and also met some friends for life in other volunteers. I had never been to Asia before but I felt so well supported by both the National and International staff at SLV, it was such an incredible experience I wish it wasn't over!”

Posted 9 years ago

“I went to Sri Lanka during a career break when I wanted to learn something new in a field of interest and also contribute by doing some volunteer work. SLV offered both with lots of opportunities for lectures and classroom style learning as well as on the job practical exposure to the mental health field. Add to this the fact that you get to experience real Sri Lankan family culture with the homestays and a great team spirit with your fellow volunteers. I would highly recommend the volunteer program for those wanting to develop their own skills and cultural awareness while giving something back to a community that really appreciates every smile and effort you make.”

Posted 9 years ago

“A great way to broaden your horizons and consider different perspectives whilst knowing your contributing to part of something bigger.”

Posted 9 years ago

“I absolutely loved my time in Sri Lanka, the slv team were so supportive and helpful through out the whole time, and made the experience so much easier. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, and would definitely go again!”

Posted 9 years ago

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SLV.Global is rated 4.5 based on 191 reviews