Program Reviews

Once in a lifetime experience! I felt safe the whole time, and I knew we were really making a difference. Our patients wouldn't have had a chance to be helped without us. There is only one speech pathologist on the entire island! If you are thinking about going on a similar trip... do it!

The itinerary of this Belize program was a perfect blend of clinical hands-on experience and cultural exposure. The clinic sites were brimming with sweet children and friendly staff who were eager to help us get started. I will never forget the children's faces. It was hard to leave the clinical sites, I would have loved to have stayed longer to work with them more. The Belizean people I encountered were truly happy we were there to offer our help. Also, the excursions of the itinerary were educative and highly enriching. Belize is full of history, and it will not disappoint those with special interests in this area of study. I felt completely safe the entire time, and I truly enjoyed the accommodation locations provided. This trip met my expectations and more. I felt challenged but nurtured, and I feel compelled to return to this beautiful place. - The food was wonderful as well!!

The amount of time allotted for work and learning and fun was just right. We had plenty of time to learn and play. I enjoyed working with this wonderful team of my classmates and professors to make a difference in the lives of several children and adults. While doing so many back to back screenings in one sitting was hard, it was exciting to challenge myself and be able to actually practice what I have been preparing to do for 3 years now. I got to work with schoolage children, preschoolers, and the elderly. We were able to do language, hearing, and articulation screenings. Every area was covered during our experience!
We also got to learn all these things in a new cultural context. Through the help of our Belizian staff, Eden, we were able to prepare ourselves with information about dialect and cultural differences between Belizians and Americans.

This program was a great experience not only to learn about other cultures and their educational system but, also the field outside of the USA. The staff especially Ellen, is awesome. She is knowledgeable, respectful, fun, and truly cares about the students.
The supervisor Denise, was excellent. She was passionate, caring, and had fantastic teaching style where she would show you something if you didn’t known instead of just telling you.
We had a great group and we all got along wonderfully. I think that fact that it was only 5 grad students made it better. But the undergrad were great too.
Make sure you; bring $, lots of sunscreen, and are OPEN-MINDED don’t expect US’s standards in someone else’s country. Belizians are
welcoming & the food is delicious. S/o to Monkey Bay’s kitchen staff!! You’ll miss their food once you come
back.
I’d highly recommend this program to any student.

This was a great program to attend before heading into my first clinical placement. I can say that I am more comfortable leading evaluation and treatment sessions after just one week of exposure. Ellen and the supervisors were very insightful and made sure that we were provided with information about the country, school system, and set clear expectations for the week. Everyone had a different style which I loved because no supervisor will ever be the same and you will need to be flexible! This program was very rewarding and I think that everyone should experience this at least once. Every lead/supervisor was organized, professional, and good communicators. It was a wonderful learning environment and I without a doubt would do it again with no hesitation!

The week that I spent in Therapy Abroad’s Graduate program is an experience that I would not take back. It allowed me to create great connections with students and SLPs, receive eclectic speech therapy experience unlike anything I have done before, and to explore a new place! You will not be disappointed by the accommodations at Monkey Bay. The staff there are some of the sweetest people that are willing to help you in any way. My speech therapy experience allowed me to better understand school systems in developing countries. It also made me realize the need of speech and language pathology services in developing countries like Belize. Then, in your down time you are able to explore the country (even the islands!) If you are thinking about it, go!!!!

Be ready to have a lot of fun and learn a lot about how to work in a multi-cultural setting! Bring multiple changes of clothes, lots of bug spray and a love for learning about new cultures! Don't be afraid to dive in and talk to every one you meet as you will meet some truly amazing people both from America and Belize. Studying with those from different backgrounds and schooling allowed me to learn about many different schools of thought that exist in this field and I learned so much! I am very grateful that I went on this trip and was able to have so much hands on experience. I hope to both stay in touch with my group members as well as come back as a team leader some day! It is very exciting that therapy abroad is expanding to different countries.

Every graduate SLP degree offers academic classes and clinical practicums, and transitioning to the latter can be a struggle. Our Therapy Abroad trip to Belize provided an incredibly valuable opportunity to ease that transition in an extremely supportive and real-world environment. We performed evaluation and treatment sessions rotating through various supervisors. Our mentors had different styles, so we were able to learn something unique from each of them. We also rotated our small teams of 3 so we could also learn from our peers. We received excellent guidance/feedback during the session prep, the session itself, and the report writing afterward. The supervisors who accompanied us were approachable and experienced. My only suggestion for improvement is to provide students with more prep time before sessions to improve the quality of service we provide to clients.

I came with a custom NYU group. Therapy Abroad worked with us to create dates that matched our school schedule. Once there, the supervisors were excellent! The Therapy Abroad employees were wonderful to work with, and I hope to return on another Therapy Abroad trip in the future. I absolutely loved my experience working with the children. I felt that I gained a lot of important clinical skills, and I strengthed my report writing skills as well. I enjoyed my time on the trip. The hotel acommodations were great. I enjoyed the excursions, and I would highly recommend this trip to others! We went snorkeling, we ate local food, we went out dancing one night, and we went swimming. The Therapy Abroad staff is very responsive to questions, concerns, and suggestions. I do intend to work with them again in the future, whether as a student, team leader, or supervisor at some point. I loved traveling with this organization!

If you are in a position to go on a trip with Therapy Abroad, do it. As a student who attends a university that doesn't offer a major in Communication Sciences and Disorders, only a minor, I firmly believe that Therapy Abroad is the strongest experience on my resume to help prepare me for graduate school. Chad, Jessy, and all of the organizational staff are diligent about maintaining thorough communication with participants throughout the program, whether it be providing details about flight logistics, offering medications and remedies to students whose bodies are having trouble adjusting to their new environment, or outlining the time frames for upcoming plans in the program. I did a study abroad program through my own undergraduate institution, but Therapy Abroad's program is far more organized. They remove the worry of tackling the nuances of getting around a foreign country by planning a group flight to Belize, making restaurant reservations, and arranging lodging, all of which are a tremendous comfort, especially to people who haven't traveled outside the country before. Having all the details taken care of prior to your arrival allows students to really focus on why they are joining in on the trip in the first place: to get hands-on experience in their chosen field. Having certified SLPs as chaperones and supervisors in the program was a crucial component to the program, since they were our go-to people to consult regarding decisions about planning the Tykes Camp curriculum. Their expertise and guidance helped our camp to run smoothly, and the reflection time we shared with them at the end of each day provided us with enlightening advice to help improve each subsequent day of clinical work. The insights I accumulated from that direct experience working with both typically-developing and developmentally-disabled campers, combined with the constructive feedback of my supervisors, was of paramount importance in solidifying my chosen career path. I have recently been accepted into graduate school, and feel much more confident in my ability to handle clinical situations with poise and competence than I otherwise would have. I feel so fortunate to have found out about Therapy Abroad, and highly recommend it to interested students, because you will gain clinical time that is difficult to find in the States and develop close relationships with the other students and supervisors in your group.