Surf charity ready to make waves thanks to St Andrews students

Youngsters in Fife will soon be making waves thanks to a surf therapy project funded by students from St Andrews University.

Students have raised more than £20,000 to bring a surf therapy programme to the East Neuk supporting children who require a range of additional support needs.

Thanks to their kind efforts, surf therapy charity The Wave Project is to launch a new programme at the town’s West Sands in the coming months.

Surfing therapy is now used all over the world to support those with mental and emotional conditions such as anxiety, PTSD and depression.

It works by combining the fun of surfing with a supportive group of trained mentors, who support participants on a one-toone basis.

Wave Project founder Joe Taylor, himself a former student at St Andrews, said the new programme was a fantastic partnership between the “town and gown”.

He added: “It is wonderful that students at St Andrews have been so successful in fundraising for this new surf therapy programme, which is needed more than ever before due to the pandemic.

“As a St Andrews graduate myself, I am particularly proud that the town will now have a functioning surf therapy programme, which will enable students to help local children.”

The combination of surfing, the natural environment of the coastline and a culture of support helps to improve confidence, self-esteem and resilience in young people as well as providing the building blocks of good emotional health.

Started in Cornwall over 10 years ago, the project has proved successful over the last decade offering support to around 4,000 young people.

The initiative is the world’s first surf therapy programme funded by a government health service. It was initially funded by the NHS as a pilot project in 2010.

In 2018 it became the first charity in the world to offer ‘surfing on prescription’, via the NHS.

Now building on that success, the charity is expanding its work to reach other parts of the UK.

However this will be the first time that a university has actively raised funds to start a new surf therapy project to support local children.

The project aims to run a series of pilot courses on the beach at St Andrews this spring with a view to establishing a full surf therapy programme, in partnership with the university later this year.

The process of learning to surf also helps young people to build their confidence, self-esteem and resilience through inclusion and learning through positive reinforcement.

UP FOR IT: St Andrews University students have raised cash to set up a surf therapy project at West Sands.