Faculty-Led Speech-Language Pathology Programs

What an adventure! This is going on vacation with a purpose! Where you can contribute so much to the people you visit. We were welcomed into the lives and homes of this hospitable nation. From shy smiles to big hugs and thank you speeches from Belizians, they touched our hearts forever.
Our hosts Chad and Ellen from therapy abroad were amazing! Their knowledge of the country and programs made it a rich experience, not to mention all the cultural hotspots we visited. It was a perfect balance between therapy and fun!

Therapy Abroad provided a safe, humbling, and fun academic experience! Belize is a beautiful country that unfortunately lacks resources and access to care. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to treat the underserved populations in different settings. Therapy Abroad made home visits possible! Every clinical experience elicited creative juices and teamwork. There was always an opportunity for the exchange of ideas. I strongly believe we grew as clinicians as we learned from each other and our clients. Chad and Ellen were knowledgeable leaders and amazing tours. They both did a great job in introducing us to all the wonderful aspects of the cultures in Belize. Thank you, Therapy Abroad.

Words don't do this trip justice. The itinerary was spot on with great places to stay, delicious local restaurants, various cultures, breathtaking scenery, awesome group leaders (Chad & Ellen, hey!) , and beautiful people. This trip was nothing short of amazing. This opportunity really served as an eye opener to me. I am even more grateful for all I have and the fact that I am earning my masters in a field that does great things for great people who are so deserving. I wish I never left Belize. I will be back.....SUMMER 2021 I'm coming for ya! If you have the opportunity to study abroad with therapy abroad...YOU MUST DO IT! You won't regret it! :-)

Throughout this experience, I was able to learn in an interactive educational environment and enhance core competencies in the field of speech language pathology, as well as enjoy the richness and challenges of service learning and traveling abroad. I was given the opportunity to work directly with clients, receive specialized training, and learn from experts in the field while also contributing to a unique cultural exchange experience.

Housing:
For the first few days of the trip, I stayed in Monkey Bay. It was dorm style housing. I stayed in a room with 8 other girls in the program. It was charming and SO much fun. Ellen was there every step of the way to make sure we had everything we needed. As a whole, I can't say enough nice things about Ellen! Monkey bay was great. The only downside of this place was the WiFi never worked. It made report writing and sharing very challenging. We tried to overcome this challenge by using and sharing flash drives. Also, the bugs at this location were pesky so don't skimp on bug spray!

Next, we stayed at Martha's Guesthouse in San Ignacio. This was another awesome accommodation. The WiFi and AC was a significant upgrade. There was plenty of room to complete our reports. The staff was friendly and the food was amazing.

Therapy Experience:
The therapy experience was amazing. We were able to see a wide variety of clients. We were not given much information on the clients before seeing them. This forced us to be extremely flexible. Prior to seeing the clients, we were only given their name and a possible date of birth. If you are a student clinician, here is a list of things I wish I had brought: nasal mirror, PECS to leave with families, latex free gloves, English and Spanish visuals with Belizean pictures, a tongue depressor, and ASL visuals.

Overall, this experience was incredible. If you are given the opportunity, GO! You will not be sorry.

Belize was an unbelievable experience. I gained clinical knowledge and traveled while doing it! I loved the variety of clinical settings that we experienced (villages, nursing home, schools). The food and juices were amazing.
If you have the opportunity, bring items that you can leave for the villages and/or schools. Stickers were a big hit! I would also recommend bringing a whiteboard and markers as they can be a great therapy tool!
I would highly recommend coming on this trip if you have the opportunity.

Therapy Abroad provided me with a once and a life time experience to not only travel the world but provide meaningful therapy to individuals who otherwise could not afford or access services.

This unique opportunity provided me with skills that can not be taught in a typical placement or classroom. Working in Belize required quick creative thinking, dynamic assessment, and thoughtful recommendations that were appropriate for the people we worked with. With limited WiFi access and materials, students were asked to get creative and utilize objects, screeners, and materials in new ways to obtain information (e.g., using an articulation picture screener as a tool to assess "wh"-questions). I also evaluated a range of disorders, syndromes, and deficits that I may not have worked with here in the US.

Some staff were wonderful to work with. Ellen was a great resource during our time in Monkey Bay. She was delightful, knowledgeable, and eager to help in any way she could. She made us feel safe and made my experience at Monkey Bay memorable. Tyrone was also a great wealth of knowledge and a great person to have around for the trip. We wished he could have been our driver for the entire trip.

It was a pleasure working with the community health workers (CHWs) and their work/experience in Belize. They were great translators when we needed them to act as such. One CHW said that she was learning a lot from us as we were learning from her. She came everyday happy and excited to work.

I had an amazing trip that was fun, educational, and at some points emotional. Home visits were the most emotionally taxing and most rewarding. Providing families with strategies and ways to support their children or loved ones was such an empowering experience.

I highly recommend this trip for students who want hands on experience, challenging clients/environments, and want to be a better report writer (because you write a lot of reports and you need to be through for the next clinician; no detail is too small or unimportant!).

This is my first time ever participating in any kind of study abroad program and it has been one of the most impactful experiences of my entire academic career. I loved the variety of clinical experiences that I was exposed to from home health to having an open clinic. I appreciated the clinical support from my professors throughout the clinical experiences and also learning more about Belize through meeting locals and exploring different activities thanks to our Therapy Abroad group leaders. Thank you Chad and Ellen for making this experience memorable for myself and my classmates, and for helping us all learn more about Belize, try new things, and be more adventurous.

I absolutely loved this experience. Chad was the best leader and made sure that we enjoyed our experience as well as ensuring we got the best professional practice available.
Specifically, Chad made sure to let us know that we were able to suggest what we wanted from the trip so therapy abroad could do their best to provide that for us which made the trip that much more memorable. Therapy Abroad offered the opportunity for future clinicians to get to work in a place that has limited resources and this challenge itself will contribute to my future as a SLP.