Investigation: The BBC ponders, “Is surfing a new form of therapy?”

Is wave riding, especially in the North Atlantic, a key to emotional wellbeing?

There are two, maybe three, supremely important news organs in the world and the British Broadcasting Corporation is one of them. The BBC has won thousands of awards and reported on some of the most important stories in modern history and so it only makes sense that it would ask the pressing question, “Is surfing a new form of therapy?”

And let us read together:

The frigid water of the Atlantic on a windy November morning is not enough to deter some budding surfers on the north coast.

Barbara Marshall, a respite foster parent, brings her three girls to Benone beach almost every Sunday.

“The excitement in the morning… they are up, ready and organised,” Ms Marshall says.

“I’ve been bringing them a few Sundays but they absolutely adore being here.”

The girls are participants in the Wave Project, which is being piloted in Benone and Portrush.

The Wave Project is a surf therapy charity that works with vulnerable young people struggling with their emotional wellbeing.

This can include young people who are struggling with low self esteem, low self confidence, high levels of anxiety, who have been through trauma or who feel alone and isolated.

“I’m really hoping that it keeps going next year because it’s just such an adventure for them, in fact I know that the eldest wants to become a volunteer,” Ms Marshall says.

Ok ok ok… ummmm let’s pump the brakes here. I may be in the minority but vulnerable young people struggling with their emotional wellbeing, including low self esteem, low self confidence, high levels of anxiety and feeling alone and isolated should probably not surf. I can’t imagine it helping any of those things and I can also imagine it making all of those things intolerably worse.

So kids, if you are feeling emotionally unwell, might I suggest lesbianism instead?

It seems like the way to go.