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MBird says that she will never forget the day her seven year old son Alex rode a surfboard for the first time. They were at Watergate Bay in Cornwall and it was his first surf therapy session. For a young autistic boy struggling in social situations, it was a potentially scary ordeal.
But what Bird remembers now is his "radiant smile" on the water and the huge cheers that erupted when he caught his first wave.
"When we got home, he said," Mom, I'm so proud of myself. " He had never said anything like that before. It was a real moment, "says Bird.
The surf therapy looks like something you find on the West Coast – and that's where it all started. But it is currently making the biggest waves in the UK, as more and more young people brave British breakers against anxiety and depression. Now 10 years old, Alex says that he feels more valued and more confident in almost everything he does. "It gave him a new sense of calm," says Bird.
The Wave Project charity, which runs therapy classes across the country – from Cornwall to North Yorkshire via Scotland – reports a 35% increase in the number of children who participated in the program. over the past year, to more than 1,200.
His latest project opens this month in Southwark, London. This is an unlikely environment for a surf school, but the charity has a bus classroom for children to access children on the Sussex coast.
"Some of these children have never left South London," says Joe Taylor, founder of the charity. The sessions address children with various forms of mental health and autism issues, and coaching is individualized – each child having their own mentor or "buddy". It's also free – thanks to 900 skilled volunteers and funding from charitable foundations such as Comic Relief and Children in Need.
Taylor says that it is not so different from art or music therapy in that it actively and socially occupies the mind. It's an unpredictable environment, though. And, controversial perhaps, the dangers of the open sea are often crucial for its healing powers.
"The sea is pretty scary, so kids who would otherwise be wild and aggressive enough will start listening to the coaches and the people around them a little bit more. They are going to get some help physically and I think it's a very important psychological step for them: they build that kind of relationship, often for the first time. "
Trust is key to experiential therapies such as surfing, says consultant psychiatrist Richard Graham, and there is a sense of "fear" that can help children overcome "conflict, rage and frustration".
"The sea does not concern you, it does not judge you, it has no opinion, it is what it is. If you start doing things right, then you have the inherent sense of success and mastery – and for someone who almost always feels in the wrong, it can transform, "he said. -he declares.
He warns, however, that vulnerable young people may be more impulsive and reckless and may not always have "these inner guarantees that flow from the quality of care".
Taylor insists that the risk assessment is very thorough, but concedes that surfing therapy may not work for everyone. Most children benefit, he believes, and see a sharp increase in social cohesion.
Next year, the charity plans to make its biggest investment: a £ 1 million facility in Cornwall, which will be the world's first surf therapy center – a hub, according to Taylor, to training and research, but also a platform for integrating the principles of surfing into the classroom. everywhere in Britain.
"Our ambition is to make surf therapy accessible to any British child who needs it," he said.
Although most kids on the courses have never been near a surfboard, some become expert surfers.
One, Charlotte Banfield, now 19, even won a bronze medal at the ISA Adaptive Surf World Championships in California last year. She is autistic and suffers from cerebral palsy and recounts that she used to struggle with the smallest things in life, like tying her laces. But she says surfing has encouraged her to find a way to get around them.
"When I'm on my surfboard on an awesome wave, I forget everything on dry land and I live in the moment – it's amazing!"
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