Organisations like Waves for Change have been using surf therapy as an essential tool to help at-risk youth heal and better their lives and a peer-reviewed paper has confirmed this!
South Africa (22 October 2024) — For over 10 years, the non-profit Waves for Change has taken quite a unique route to bettering the lives of young people from underserved and violent communities. Surf therapy isn’t what most people think of when they think of tackling the big blows that impact our young people, but Waves for Change (W4C) is proving how it can. And they’ve got the evidence to back it up.
A peer-reviewed paper has given their program the stamp of approval, confirming that surf therapy does benefit and impact at-risk youth positively in more ways than simply bringing good vibes into their lives.
The peer-reviewed paper entitled “The Impact of Surf Therapy on Risk-Taking and Interpersonal Closeness Among Violence-Exposed Youth” was published in the Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice.
“The paper’s findings suggest that W4C provides a community-based intervention that strengthens self-regulation and social cohesion in an under-resourced setting,” explains W4C’s Tania Bailey, Relationships and Event Manager.
The surf therapy programme combines surfing with structured psycho-social support and is provided to 2,500 children weekly from 43 communities in the Western and Eastern Cape.
The paper revealed encouraging results, taking a comparative look at participants who were either enrolled in surf therapy or on the waitlist.
The participants (all of whom had witnessed violence and a majority of 98.2% who experienced violence directly) completed self-report assessments of matters like perceived stress, sensation-seeking and interpersonal closeness, as well as behavioural measures of risk-taking and self-esteem. Data was clocked at two-time points that were six months apart.
Here are the findings:
- Participants felt significantly closer to people in their lives after the programme.
- Those who have experienced at least seven weeks in the program exhibited significantly lower risk-taking behaviour.
- There was a noteworthy reduction in reported sensation seeking, too.
“We often speak about Waves for Change’s ‘evidence-based’ Surf Therapy,” says W4C Director, Nicola Van der Merwe.
“The organisation places significant value on ensuring that its programme has a positive effect on the mental health and wellbeing of the participating children. We insist that our work ‘does what it says on the box’. Especially as we work with vulnerable and at-risk youth. The results of the program evaluation highlight how W4C’s surf therapy can be an effective psycho-social-educational intervention in a high-stress environment for children and adolescents exposed to violence.”
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For Mokgadi, it’s an amazing mission to help support.
“I know what it is not to have tools for life,” says Mokgadi. “The fact that there are people out there giving kids tools to thrive from an early stage is amazing to me. That’s why I am participating in the Laughs for Change fundraising show.”
You can have a laugh for a good cause here.
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