Surf for Sanity. Photo: Ed West.

Surf for Sanity is a campaign we started earlier in the year, aiming to encourage people to share their stories with how surfing has positively impacted their mental health. It has been very inspiring seeing and reading your #SURFFORSANITY posts on Instagram and it is lovely to see the community sharing positive stories, especially during this challenging time.

The global pandemic has plummeted our mental health to a record low, without a doubt. It’s vital now more than ever that we do what we can to support each other, show love and stay positive. As it is Mental Health Awareness Week this week, we thought we would speak up again and remind anyone struggling that there is so much to hold onto.

The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week this year is ‘Nature’! MHAW foundation aims ‘to inspire more people to connect with nature in new ways, noticing the impact that this connection can have for their mental health. Secondly, to convince decision makers at all levels that access to and quality of nature is a mental health and social justice issue as well as an environmental one’.

Mental Health Awareness Week 2021.

Here in Cornwall, an obvious link to nature is the ocean. Many of us turn to the oceans to relieve any stresses, so we thought we would explore the link with surfing and how this can be used to relieve the symptoms of mental health difficulties – we linked up with experts in the field to have a chat.

Hope, Ed and Tim.

Tim Trythall, the Wave Project‘s West Cornwall Coordinator came on board and shared his experiences gathered from leading the amazing Wave Project Surf Therapy sessions. Additionally, Hope Horsfield, a masters student from the University of Exeter came onboard and shared her findings from her research paper, recently published: ‘Supporting ‘blue care’ through outdoor water-based activities: practitioner perspectives‘.

If you fancy having a listen, check out the podcast below:

We hope that this has inspired more people to try surfing and surround themselves with nature!

We at Down the Line Surf Shop truly believe that surfing can not only boost our physical wellbeing, but to help us to reset ourselves emotionally. Being immersed in the elements, surrounded by nature in it’s rawest form helps us to find solace in this mad world and we encourage anyone who hasn’t surfed before to give it a go! However, if surfing isn’t your thing, remember to do whatever what makes you happy!