Surfing for social integration : mental health and well-being promotion through surf therapy among institutionalized young people

Copyright: © 2017 Margarida Gaspar de Matos, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The Surf-Salva Camp 2016 project aimed at promoting social inclusion, wellbeing, and mental health, as well as developing beach security values and social citizenship in children and youth in foster care institutions, through surfing (Surf-Therapy). Participants were 48 adolescents aged 10 to 16, selected from 4 foster institutions in the greater Lisbon district. Results suggest that intervention through surf therapy had a number of positive effects: exploration, effort and perseverance, problem-solving, time management, social competencies, interpersonal relationships and emotional regulation all developed among the participants throughout the project. Results support the claim that within a suitable theoretical framework, with a solid and well trained team and with adequate psychotherapeutic supervision and evaluation, Surf Therapy can be a very promising possibility in the care of at-risk young people, and policy makers should consider this suggestion in the development of policies related to vulnerable institutionalized young people.