Psychology and Mental Health Programme in Ghana

Although some of the communication could have been better, I would definitely recommend this placement to my friends and university peers.I loved being at the foundation and spending time with the children. The children were very welcoming towards us and made us feel very comfortable. Some days were good in the clinics when we were at one of the hospitals because Alex talked us through his job and we discussed psychology and mental health issues with him. We did a presentation to a school the next day, it was terrifying but so rewarding. The most educational was the psychiatric hospital in Cape Coast, I learnt so much being there. When working there, I did counselling with patients. It was amazing and such good experience for my university degree. This placement has helped me so much with my future career getting to experience counselling for the first time as well as working with children and working in a hospital and a school.

I thought both the children's home and the hospitals were very interesting and insightful experiences. I loved meeting the children and this was defo one of the highlights for me as someone who has studied child psychology! I found the arrival quite a difficult process. In a new country after a long day of travelling, I found this quite overwhelming and intimidating, but overall I feel it has enabled me to develop my interpersonal skills with people with different cultural backgrounds, furthermore it has given me a wider perspective of the challenges faced with mental health in other countries.

Settling in was great as I knew exactly who to talk to if there were any issues. Myself and another volunteer had a fantastic welcome to the children's foundation. We were set with the task of counselling three children at the children's home. I always looked forward to the afternoons with the children. I feel I made an impact at the home and it was amazing to develop bonds with some of the kids. Ankaful psychiatric hospital is where we gained our most hands-on experience with psychiatric patients. I found the clinics so educational. I would say that, particularly due to the nature of this placement, and mental health awareness in Ghana, volunteers should be aware that there is a difference in approaches and there is some work to spread awareness of mental health topics, such as depression and anxiety. I think volunteers should be prepared to go in with an open mind and be encouraged to have the moto that "you get out what you put in" - so just don't hold back, say yes to everything (within reason) and go looking for experiences above and beyond. It is nothing like one can experience in the UK and just gives a fresh perspective on life. It has made me appreciate so much more of life.