Welcome to Wave Project Scotland, where young surfers find healing in the water
Forget everything you thought you knew about surfing. This is not the tanned, six-packed water gods of 1990s television, where the sea is always glittering and the air warm and still. Forget all of that.
Picture, instead, an East Lothian beach in October. It’s undeniably beautiful – breathtakingly so. But this is the North Sea and it’s chilly – breathtakingly so. This is surfing of a hardier kind: thick wetsuits, neoprene gloves, boots and hoods.These particular surfers belong to Wave Project Scotland (Wave), a branch of the UK-wide Wave Project charity offering surf therapy and ongoing access to surfing to young people experiencing mental health difficulties, whatever the reason, whatever the background.First rule of Wave: everybody involved in Wave talks about Wave. It’s like a cult band you’ve just discovered. That goes for the young surfers, their parents, carers, the band of volunteers that make every session possible, and the permanent staff who keep the whole soggy show on the road year-round.“Wave builds a community and welcomes children into it, warts and all,” specialist Speech and Language Therapist, and surf volunteer, Isla Davies tells me. “It isn't just six weeks of therapy then 'off you go' – you can join surf club and continue being part of something. Many surfers go on to become mentors, too. This circular process is key – that sense being a meaningful part of something.”Eighteen-year-old Robyn is testament to that process working. “Progressing from a surfer to a volunteer was a very daunting step,” she remembers. “I struggle with communication and social settings, but with support from everybody, I felt confident enough to give myself that push out of my comfort zone but in a safe, supportive and judgement-free environment.”Eleven-year-old Archie, who came to Wave Project to help him deal with his grief after the death of his father, agrees. “There’s so much shared joy and support,” he tells me. “It made me feel myself again.”Archie’s mother Katy has witnessed the change in her son first hand. “We had suffered from so much secondary loss,” she tells me, “and this helped us feel back in the community. As a mum, it brought me great relief for my boy, and I’m not sure how he would have found his sense of self again without it.”And that’s the thing about Wave Project – it’s not just about the young surfers, and whatever troubles have brought them to the water. It’s about everybody on the journey with them.As a parent whose child accesses Wave (my elder son is autistic), I know this all too well. It’s about an holistic approach to young people’s wellbeing, and that involves all those riding the waves – physical and metaphorical – with them, from parents and carers to siblings, friends and mentors. It’s not even about surfing: it’s about showing up, daring to get stuck in, being there, and being you.Sixteen-year-old Evan has been surfing since he was eight and describes what Wave does as “magical”. The disarming simplicity of that statement says everything about the effect it has on him. “The boy that goes into the water is a different boy that comes out”, Evan tells me. “I feel the water helps my mental health. Surfing with friends makes me ‘me’ again.”Evan’s mum, Danni – also a volunteer -- tells me that her son wasn’t expected to live beyond two hours at birth, and that she was then warned that he would most likely never walk, talk or even eat. He has diagnoses of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Cerebral Palsy and Ataxia, so Evan has, in the words of his mum, “a lot going on”. But Wave is helping the teenager to navigate those challenges and giving him positivity, strength and a much-needed release.“I’ve always said to Evan that surfing isn’t just a sport, it’s a way of life,” says Danni, “and Wave has shown him that. I can’t imagine a life without it.”This sentiment – a sense of the unfathomable possibility of a life without Wave Project – is echoed around the car park outside Dunbar as we meet for one of the big fundraisers of the year, Superhero Surf. But in amongst the Barbie costumes, capes and giant Lycra underpants – behind all the laughter and high-fiving – there’s the seriousness of the work that is done here: in the water, on the beach, in the process of getting wetsuited-up, and even in the car park as the surfers arrive. Because some of the young people accessing Wave Project are amongst the most vulnerable.“You speak to a mum who says her child came out of his room to come surfing or smiled for the first time in weeks,” says Alison Young, Project Coordinator in Scotland, who previously worked for 20 years in the NHS, “and you remember why you do it. It makes an impact. It works! We may not change a lot of lives in numbers terms, but we make a massive change to the lives of the young people who come to us.”It speaks to the importance of the Project’s work that even ultra-officious East Lothian Council waives the occasional beach car parking fine for volunteers on duty.Chris, whose son McKenzie came to Wave after his transition to high school went spectacularly wrong because of unmet additional needs, testifies to that. “It got to the point where McKenzie was about to be taken into care and I’d lost my business and had a nervous breakdown,” remembers Chris. “Along came Wave Project just in time. I often wonder where McKenzie and I would be today if it weren’t for that.”The profundity of every session, whether in the height of summer or mid-winter (the Santa Surf is beautifully bananas enough that you momentarily forget that you’re standing in flip flops in the snow) is that there is always – always – a first.At Superhero Surf, Evan stands upright unaided on a board for the first time. Isla tells me about the moment that a non-verbal surfer described through his communication device how surfing has changed his life. Another young autistic surfer manages to put on a wetsuit, despite the unimaginable sensory overload of that experience. One anxious youngster manages to share their name to the group, whilst another leaves their parent’s side for the first time in weeks and puts their trust in the strangers around them. All firsts, all celebrated with equal pride.“That energy is contagious,” Alison tells me, beaming. “The kids feel it and it seeps into their bones. We are a family, a community, and I have real love and affection for what we have built in Scotland.”Jennifer, a former social worker and volunteer with the Wave Project for more than five years, agrees. “It’s a very special group of people who are willing to get on their wetsuits, be in the sea and in the cold and be battered about by the waves. I really value the people I meet when I go there – the young people who come to us, but also the volunteers themselves.”“When life can be a challenge,” adds stalwart volunteer Richie, as he joins the queue for a well-earned, post-Superhero Surf burger, “Wave Project shows me it is okay to have some fun.”Not all superheroes wear capes. But some of them do.For more information about Wave Project Scotland, to find out how to make a referral, how to volunteer, or to donate, visit www.waveproject.co.uk