The Wave Project is to open a new centre at St Andrews in Scotland, with the help of £20,000 raised by local students.

The charity, set up in Cornwall in 2010, aims to help vulnerable people through 'surf therapy'. Ten years later it has expanded across the UK, including to Dunbar, and is now set to open an outpost in St Andrews in May.

Many of the children involved in the project have spent time in care, or may be struggling at school, experiencing depression or anxiety, or have a disability.

OPPORTUNITY

The Wave Project aims to help them by offering six weekly one-hour sessions, in which children surf one to one with a mentor and also have the opportunity to later take part in a longer-term surf club. For children to participate they must be referred to the charity by a third party.

Furthermore, the surf centre will rely entirely on donations, including £20,000 raised by St Andrews University students.

Wave Project founder Joe Taylor said: “The idea of surf therapy was initially controversial, especially as the project was initially funded by the NHS.

"But actually, after we demonstrated the benefit of it to young people, it’s emerged as a very cost-effective way of helping children.

“A lot of those who we work with are really not engaging with other services,” he told The Scotsman.

"People try to get them to do things, and they just don’t want to, the children don’t respond to adult-led interventions.

ENGAGING

“That is what our approach has always been, it’s something the children actually do want to do and that they find fun and engaging.

“And then what we find is that they start to engage with the other people around them, the mentors or the other children, and they build trust with those people, and from that point we start to see some of the emotional benefits emerging, they become more willing to talk about their problems.”

Visit the Wave Project page on the ConnectSport directory. To add your organisation for free, contact hello@connectsport.co.uk.