How surf therapy can make vulnerable young adults more resilient

#THIS ARTICLE IN DUTCH is written by Emilie Maclaine Pont | translated by Liesbeth Wallien

Skiffa Surfclub is a startup in The Hague that lends a helping hand to young adults with social issues in a unique location: the sea. Using a mix of coaching and surf classes the club hopes to bring these young people some joy while building emotional resilience, in a safe environment. Owners Dolf van Muijen and Michael Vallen talk about their surf club, which is one of the winners of Sportinnovator’s Challenge Open Water Exercising.

‘It is our ambition to help teenagers and young adults aged between 12 and 30 from less privileged urban areas to get into sports, by offering them wave surfing and supping’, Michael Vallen explains. Remarkably, some of them don’t know how to swim although they live near the coast or a lake. The Skiffa Surfclub offers them classes in wave surfing and supping. ‘The classes are not just about learning the sport but also about improving self-awareness. They learn about gully streams, the risks of high and low tides, and acquire rescue skills.’

‘Moreover’, Dolf van Muijen adds, ‘we focus on specific vulnerable groups. This year for the first time we had children from the Ukraine, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. Here they are among their peers, and can share their stories, without any judgment. We also give them responsibility, for instance by having them take their own surf boards down to the water. It is a form of respect. They don’t just learn how to surf, but mostly how you can have fun by exercising. By going out onto the water their social and emotional resilience grows. The water is like a mirror. Is a kid afraid to go into the water, but gets on the board without any hesitation? That’s often a sign that this kid also crashes its boundaries in day-to-day life. We talk about that. And lastly, the water in itself is healing, without us having to do anything.’

Trauma therapy
That there is another layer to surfing was something that Van Muijen and Vallen had discovered before. Vallen: ‘Both Dolf and I have a great deal of experience with vulnerable young adults. He won his spurs at Save the Children and the Red Cross, and I was involved in the Hersenstichting (Brain Foundation), where I was helping young adults with brain injuries to find their way to the job market. One of the fascinating aspects I came across was surf therapy. In the United States this is a well-established and extremely effective therapy, which is used for traumatised war veterans, for instance. I, too, clearly saw favourable results, even with the brain-injured young adults I used to work with. As both Dolf and I are passioned about water sports, the next step was obvious.’

To realise their plan, Van Muijen and Vallen sought different partners to collaborate with. Van Muijen: ‘One such partner is Surfblend: a surf school where we rent materials like wetsuits and surf boards. We work with trainers of Vaaren. They are extremely experienced on the water and can help explore issues in more depth. Sportinnovator provides financial assistance as well as coaching. They also brainstorm with us about how you can market innovations like these. The local sport coaching organization brings us in contact with young adults, and the Red Cross, too, acts as a link between us and our target group.’

Skiffa Surfclub has meanwhile started with several groups. Van Muijen: ‘Since spring this year we have been active in Kijkduin, in The Hague, not just for children from emergency shelters. We also did a successful pilot with adults with addiction issues. We will soon start with young diabetes patients, together with their nursing staff and psychologists. And then there are young children without any specific problems. We teach them lifesaving skills on the water. But most of all they have a lot of fun on the surfboard.’

Growth ambitions
Currently, Skiffa Surfclub is active only in The Hague, but the owners would like to expand. Van Muijen has some ideas about how to make that happen. ‘Ideas are often born in offices, but do not address the needs of the target group. That is why they fail in practice. It is crucial to adapt to the target group. We do that by striking up a dialogue with young adults, before and afterwards. That’s how we learn about what they want and whether what we have come up with resonates with them.’

‘Water and the sea are complex forces of nature to work with. As a trainer you have to know what you are doing out on the water, both in terms of skills and coaching. That is why we look for partners who have all those capacities. Lastly, as a social surf enterprise we want to be appealing. Are you working with people with social issues? We want you to find your way to us. If we join those three elements, I just know that our concept will become better known.’

For more information: www.skiffasurfclub.com