An Ocean for Everyone

Surf Therapy supports children from stressed environments to develop meaningful social connections, experience respite from difficult thoughts or feelings, and adopt healthy behaviours to cope with stress.

An International Network for Community Based Mental Health

The Wave Alliance is a network of change-makers and community based organisations operating on coastlines where mental health services are under-resourced. Waves for Change provides training and support that helps members design, launch and evaluate their own surf therapy intervention.


Who is this for?

The world is full of passionate people and impactful community-based organisations. By uniting, we can grow access to Surf Therapy and contribute to the fast-growing global evidence-base for surf therapy as a health intervention.

How Do You Get Involved?

If you would like to introduce a sustainable Surf Therapy programme to your local community, join us! You don’t need to know how to surf to start – you just need to be passionate about community well-being and interested in changing lives, one wave at a time. Begin by filling in this survey, and we’ll get in touch!

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to be a surf school, surf programme, or surfer to join?

No! You and your (future) team do need to be willing to learn to surf though. We’ll help you learn and train others!

Does the Wave Alliance provide financial support?

We are not a funding body; we provide initial surf equipment (surfboards and rashvests), and support programme evaluation so you can raise funds and awareness yourself!

Do I need to be near the coast?

To deliver a surf programme, you need to have safe and relatively easy access to the ocean. Get in touch and we can help you decide if this is a feasible option for your community.

Will my participants become professional surfers?

Our focus is positive youth development and well-being, not performance. Surf schools and training camps are welcome to integrate the Wave Alliance into their work!

What do I need to do to deliver a surf therapy programme?

You need to be driven, community-led, and passionate about health. We will build your knowledge, support structured programme design and delivery, and increase your evidence!

Our Partner Sites

We are stoked to work with a community of global partners bridging the treatment gap in their region using surf therapy. Our partners were trained in the W4C 5 Pillar method and used these active ingredients to design, implement, and evaluate well-being promotion conditions in their programmes. You can learn all about their incredible work below!