Everyone deserves access to effective and compassionate mental health support.
The Waves of Wellness (WOW) Foundation, a mental health surf therapy charity that provides free mental health support to all kinds of people — from young people to veterans — throughout Australia, firmly believes in this.
WOW runs an eight-week surf therapy program, where facilitators and participants spend an hour discussing a different mental health topic each week and then spend another hour in the water. In that way, they are learning how to ride the waves in two ways: in the water and through their emotions.
At the THRIVE National Youth Summit, Paul Kony and Nick Kleeman, two of WOW’s mental health facilitators, will be presenting a case study on how they deliver mental health support differently. Read on for an overview of their session.
What are the barriers preventing young people from seeking mental health support? How can we overcome those barriers?
One of the most common barriers is stigma. A lot of young people would not want to go into a medical consultation room and talk to a doctor. For them, it’s too old. Mental health can be quite intimidating, as well as the sense that the traditional way is not the cool or likeable thing to do. The benefit for us is that surfing has a sense of coolness and accessibility in it that might catch young people who wouldn’t go to a traditional mental health support. We started an accessible endpoint to overcome that stigma.
Some other barriers are cost barriers. All our programs are free and run in a non-clinical setting on the beach, so we are reducing those barriers while still providing clinical support.
What innovative methods did you develop to make support services more accessible?
Most of the staff in our programs are our surf coaches as well, so we provide both strong surfing and mental health guidance. That overlap is unique about what we offer. Being qualified surf instructors who are passionate about the water and being able to tie that into mental health at the same time is something new.
We tie in a lot of what we talk about in the group therapy part of our programs into surfing. We provide a real example of things and topics around mental health, such as self-compassion, mindfulness and change management, take those concepts to the beach and apply them to the surfing aspect of what we do.
Participants then leave not just with a surfing skill but also with a sense of culture and connection with a community. They have tools and strategies to use, but they also have a new hobby and fun thing to do with other people or by themselves and continue doing so after the program. It’s a holistic and lifelong approach. We provide support for them to get their surfboard and continue to build that community outside the program afterwards.
How do you use surf therapy to increase access to mental health support for disengaged young people?
In working with disengaged young people, it’s the non-clinical setting that encourages different kinds of conversations, using surf therapy on the beach. They might not want to engage in other services or clinical settings, so by taking a step away from that and providing support in a nature-based environment, it can be less threatening for them and help them feel more comfortable sharing some of the challenges they’re experiencing.
It’s a bit of an adventure, a sense of connection using the body. Surfing comes after the therapy, so it helps them want to sit through the therapy. For instance, we had a young person approach us about what self-esteem was, as they’d never heard the word before. Those who might not otherwise have access to this mental health knowledge can gain it and the empowerment that comes with it through surfing and our expert facilitation.
It also gives us space to be creative in how we engage with young people. We can use games, activities, drawings in the sand and different tools to encourage conversation and connection between participants. That increases access to mental health support and gets them to the beach to do a bunch of activities.
Moreover, our programs are funded by grants and philanthropy, so there is no cost to them. For the disengaged and disadvantaged young people who might not have the financial means to get therapy support, we also partner with organisations to help with transport sometimes. We’ve had youth workers who drive around in the bus before the program, pick up every single kid from their house and even wake them up if they don’t want to engage. That hands-on support helps young people access our programs.
Is there anything you want to add or highlight?
It would be interesting for people to look at how they can potentially get surf therapy in their unique communities, and we are lucky that most places in Australia do have access to the beach.
We work with many funding partners, as well as different mental health services across the country (such as headspace), to get our programs running. Currently, we have over 1,000 people on our waitlist who wish to access these programs. The more opportunities we get to run them, the more young people can access an engaging and inclusive mental health service.
Find out how organisations like Waves of Wellness provide an alternative and innovative mental health support to the youth. Secure your spot for THRIVE 2025 here.
Geraldine is currently the Content Producer for Third Sector, an Akolade channel. Throughout her career, she has written for various industries and international audiences. Her love for writing extends beyond the corporate world, as she also works as a volunteer writer at her local church. Aside from writing, she is also fond of joining fun runs and watching musicals.
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