Explore the complexities of mental healthcare through a Mental Health, Psychology & Psychiatric Care Internship in Arusha, Tanzania. Based within a local hospital’s Mental Health Department, you’ll learn alongside experienced psychiatric nurses, counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers and mental health professionals delivering essential psychological and psychiatric services. Gain valuable insight into clinical psychology, mental health assessments, counselling, psychiatric care and community mental health, while discovering how cultural beliefs, social circumstances and healthcare resources influence mental wellbeing in Tanzania.
Your psychology and mental health internship abroad offers supervised opportunities to observe clinical assessments, individual and group counselling, patient consultations, case discussions, psychoeducation and treatment planning. Depending on your educational background, qualifications and the department’s needs, you may also support appropriate mental health awareness activities, family support initiatives and community outreach programs, with potential exposure to addiction recovery services and sober houses. All clinical involvement is guided by qualified local professionals, with patient confidentiality, informed consent and ethical practice at the centre of your experience.
Alongside your hospital placement, dedicated Global Citizenship, ethical volunteering and personal development workshops explore the wider challenges facing mental healthcare in developing communities. Examine the impact of mental health stigma, poverty, trauma, substance use, healthcare inequalities and limited access to psychological support, while developing a deeper understanding of culturally sensitive care, global mental health and sustainable approaches to community wellbeing.
Through your Legacy Project, you’ll have opportunities to collaborate with local mental health professionals on practical initiatives that strengthen their organisation’s long-term capacity. Projects could include developing mental health awareness resources, psychoeducation materials, community wellbeing workshops, family support guides or locally appropriate staff training resources that can continue supporting patients and healthcare teams after your placement. Combining clinical observation, psychology learning, mental health outreach and community-led capacity-building, this Arusha internship offers an opportunity to develop professionally while contributing ethically to sustainable mental healthcare.
We’ve designed the Academy to bring together everything you need for an unforgettable volunteering and gap year experience in Tanzania. Your program fee includes accommodation, meals, your internship, dedicated volunteer training, Global Citizenship and personal development workshops, and a certificate of completion. You’ll also enjoy organised safaris, a Zanzibar island adventure, cultural experiences, weekly activities, local transport and ongoing support — all thoughtfully arranged so you can focus on learning, exploring, making lifelong friendships and creating memories without constantly organising and paying for extras.
Almost everything you need for your 6 or 10 weeks in Tanzania is built into your Adventure Academy fee.
A small number of personal and independent costs remain outside your Academy program.
Your 10 weeks are designed as a journey — from settling into life in Tanzania and
building real relationships at your internship, to developing a partner-led Legacy Project
and putting your learning into action. Along the way, two signature overland journeys
take you across some of Tanzania’s most extraordinary landscapes, making travel,
culture and adventure part of the learning itself.
Settle into Academy life, meet your placement team and begin building genuine relationships. Through your internship, Global Citizenship learning and cultural experiences, you'll start understanding the people, place and context behind your work before deciding how you can contribute.
Become increasingly involved in your internship as your confidence and understanding grow. Alongside your placement partner, you'll begin exploring real challenges and identifying where your Legacy Project could make a useful, sustainable contribution.
Hit the road for your first signature overland journey — travelling from Arusha into Ngorongoro Crater, across the Serengeti and west to Mwanza on the shores of Lake Victoria. Six days of safari, road trips, wildlife and adventure mark the halfway point of your Academy experience.
Return to your internship and turn ideas into action through your partner-led Legacy Project. Co-design, build, test and refine something your placement has identified as genuinely useful — learning firsthand what responsible, community-led impact actually looks like.
Set off on your second epic overland adventure! Journey from Arusha through the beautiful Usambara Mountains to historic Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam before crossing the Indian Ocean to Zanzibar. Discover Swahili culture, explore tropical beaches and enjoy unforgettable island adventures with your Academy crew.
Return to your internship to see how your project works without you, make final improvements and hand it over properly. Your final weeks in Arusha bring everything together through reflection, final placement days, Diploma completion, graduation and one last celebration with your Academy crew.
Our 6-Week Academy brings together your internship, Global Citizenship Diploma, Legacy Project, cultural immersion and one signature overland adventure in a more intensive format. You’ll move from learning to action faster, while still having time to build relationships, contribute meaningfully and experience Tanzania beyond your placement.
Settle into life in Arusha, meet your placement team and quickly move from orientation into hands-on participation. Global Citizenship learning and cultural experiences help you understand the context behind your work as you begin identifying your Legacy Project.
Become more involved in your internship, develop practical skills and explore the challenges facing local communities. Alongside your placement, enjoy an unforgettable two-day safari through Tarangire National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, discovering Tanzania's incredible wildlife and landscapes.
Swap the mountains of Arusha for the turquoise waters of Zanzibar! Fly to the island for five unforgettable days exploring historic Stone Town, discovering Swahili culture, enjoying a Safari Blue ocean adventure and relaxing on tropical beaches with your Academy crew.
Return to Arusha for your final placement week, refine and hand over your Legacy Project, complete your Global Citizenship learning and finish with graduation, goodbyes and one last celebration with your Academy crew.
Monday
Start the week with breakfast before heading to your internship placement, then spend the afternoon wrapping up placement activities, planning and enjoying some free time.
Tuesday
Start with optional morning yoga before heading to placement, followed by an afternoon Global Citizenship workshop exploring culture, ethics, sustainability and responsible global action.
Wednesday
Spend your morning at placement before switching into Tanzania mode with an afternoon of Swahili, cooking, art, music or another rotating cultural experience.
Thursday
Head to placement in the morning before an afternoon of personal growth, reflection and wellbeing, then switch off for Academy Social Night, drinks, games or Arusha nightlife.
Friday
Spend the morning at placement or developing your Legacy Project, then enjoy a free afternoon for cafés, the pool, markets, the gym or whatever you feel like doing.
Saturday
Saturdays are made for exploring, with Academy adventures taking you to waterfalls, coffee country, hot springs, cultural experiences, cycling trips and beyond.
Sunday
Sleep in, enjoy a slow breakfast and spend the day by the pool, exploring Arusha, grabbing brunch or simply recharging with your Academy crew.
Your placement gives you clinical experience, but the Academy helps you understand the wider forces shaping mental health, including culture, stigma, access, family, economics and social circumstances.
You’ll explore how mental-health beliefs, help-seeking, treatment and recovery can differ across cultures while learning from Tanzanian professionals working within real healthcare and resource constraints.
Explore how culture influences mental-health beliefs, presentation, treatment, help-seeking and recovery.
Understand how stigma, resources and social attitudes can influence whether people seek mental-health support.
Explore how poverty, employment, housing, relationships, education and social support can influence psychological wellbeing.
Understand the challenges of delivering mental-health care within different healthcare systems and resource settings.
Your Legacy Project develops from your placement experience. You’ll spend time understanding the department, listening to local professionals and identifying a practical priority rather than arriving with a predetermined intervention.
Together with qualified local professionals, you may develop psychoeducation resources, awareness materials, family-support resources, coping-skills resources, referral information or another project identified as useful by the department.
Subject to successful completion of the required academic components, you’ll work towards an accredited Level 3 Diploma in Global Citizenship in Community Development – Childcare & Early Education.
Alongside your qualification, you’ll build practical experience working with Tanzanian educators and young children, develop a collaborative Legacy Project, and strengthen the communication, teamwork, leadership and cross-cultural skills that can support your future study and career.
Work towards Certificate in Global Citizenship & ethical Volunteering, giving your international experience a recognised educational outcome.
Gain approximately three months of hands-on early childhood education experience, working alongside Tanzanian teachers and supporting children through learning, play and creative activities.
Build communication, teamwork, leadership, independence, adaptability and cross-cultural skills while developing practical experience you can carry into future study, work and applications.
Develop practical Swahili, explore community development and ethical international engagement, and learn how culture and local context shape responsible work with communities.
Living in Arusha gives you a home base beyond the hospital. You’ll share Academy life with an international cohort through meals, social nights, workshops, games, movie nights, adventures and everyday downtime.
Outside your placement, you’ll experience Swahili, Tanzanian culture, safari, mountains, waterfalls, coffee country and Zanzibar on the 12-week Academy. The result is a balance between serious professional learning and actually living in Tanzania.
For the next 6 or 12 weeks, this is more than somewhere you sleep – it’s home. Share a comfortable room with one or two other Academy travellers, each with a private bathroom and balcony off the main house, and enjoy Wi-Fi, hot showers, 24/7 security, a restaurant and bar, garden hangouts and a cosy indoor movie room.
It’s also the heart of Academy life – morning yoga in the garden, workshops and cultural afternoons around the house, lazy hours soaking up the African sun, movie and games nights, dinners and drinks at the bar, music, parties and plenty of spontaneous nights with your Academy crew.
Yes. This is a restricted-entry clinical internship. You must be currently enrolled in or already qualified in a relevant field.
Your responsibilities depend on your education, experience, competence and supervision. Clinical activities are only undertaken where appropriate and authorised by medical professionals. So you have a proper supervisor.
You may work alongside doctors, nurses, counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers and other mental-health practitioners within the hospital department.
Depending on your scope, opportunities may include assessments, counselling, case discussions, treatment planning, psychoeducation, family support and community initiatives.
Not necessarily. Depending on current activities, opportunities may include community initiatives, sober houses and other external mental-health programs.
It's a collaborative project developed around an actual priority identified by the department, rather than a predetermined intervention brought from home. Its a project that you develop and leave behind, to be utilised long after your departure!
Subject to completing the academic requirements, you'll work towards a Level 3 Diploma in Global Citizenship in Global Health!
Live, learn, intern and travel in Tanzania through immersive 6 and 12-week Academy experiences in Arusha and Zanzibar.
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