Wave by Wave
To promote the mental health and well-being of children and young people through surfing
Promoter: Associação Portuguesa Surf for Good
Target group: Children and young people with mental health issues
Territorial reach: Metropolitan Lisbon (Cascais, Lisbon, Oeiras, Sintra)
Duration: 3 years
SDG: 3. Good Health and Well-being
The Wave by Wave project focuses on the mental health and well-being of children and young people through surfing. The team, comprising mental health professionals and surfing instructors, brings a therapeutic setting of consistency, continuity, predictability and intent to the beach, combining a radical activity – surfing – and contact with nature to encourage the creation of positive bonds that help young people in their physical and psychological rehabilitation.
With support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and over the course of three years, work will be carried out with approximately 100 children from foster homes in the municipalities of Cascais, Oeiras, Lisbon and Sintra to measure the impact of the intervention on the mental health and school performance of those adolescents, and to improve their motor development.
The project is monitored by the School of Psychology and the Portuguese Psychologists Association to validate surf therapy as a conventional therapeutic measure.
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Sustainable Development Goals
This project contributes to the following SDG target:
Target 3.4
By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.