Welcome Wave: Surf Therapy in an Unfamiliar Sea for Young Asylum Seekers

Abstract

This chapter explores the health-enabling and socially connective potential of the sea for young asylum seekers participating in a surfing programme for the first time on the south-west coast of Ireland. Applying an ethno-case study framework, the authors address the differentiated experiences of a minority group. They explore how the ‘unfamiliarity’ of the sea and surf is encountered and experienced. A broad health promotion or enabling spaces approach is used to capture the emotional, embodied and experiential dimensions of immersions in coastal blue space. The findings highlight how active learning experiences in the sea can facilitate a greater sense of relational wellbeing and place connection that emerges from the dynamic interplay of personal, societal and environmental processes.