Week 5 Mini pilot study
Written by participant JA
Week 5 of the Muddy Care programme was a hit. We were joined by a special guest. A member of staff from Brecon Medical Centre had decided to come and observe us for the day. After 15 minutes of saying what we wanted to achieve for the day and a quick catch up, we set off on our adventure down the Gower to do some surfing.
You’d probably think to Gower by bus was long and tiring. Well, you’d be right. Partly. For our first week surfing session it felt like forever to get down there and back. We are now only on week 4 of surfing and that time feels like it has more than halved. The bond that all of us have formed after so little time is remarkable.
We arrived at Caswell Bay just shy of dinner time. We were greeted with a warm welcome by the Surfability team. The weather was quite calm, compared to what it had been the previous three weeks. This was not an issue though at all. Seeing it was late autumn my surfing coach Ben had decided to bring along his four-legged friend. Juno her name was. I felt like Juno put everyone at ease. Personally, looking back on the event, I think it was so good of Ben to bring her along. I wasn’t feeling 100% and seeing her just made me forget about everything. In my experience that’s what Surfability do. Little things that can change everything. I can honestly say, since I first met the Surfability team my mental health has improved leaps and bounds. I’m so grateful for them and to Muddy Care.
We were ready to tackle some waves. The sea was calm, but relaxing. The waves were small, compared to what we had seen in the past. Nevertheless, this did not stop us. Yet again we had a whale of a time. Everyone was so supportive and willing everyone on. Yes, we all took a tumble or two. It was all in good fun though. Ben was determined from minute one to get me to finally stand up. Which at first was a bit of a shock to me because I’ve always been told to take it easy. After about five minutes though I was determined too to take on the challenge.
Fall after fall after fall. I was getting there, but not quite. Ben said “stop, breath and give it two minutes. Then go again”. I did so and the results were astonishing. I had finally stood up on the board on my own. I felt so alive. Even more so when I heard everyone cheering me on. Speechless. It had been a long time since I felt that happy.
Sad to see our time down Gower with the Surfability team has come to an end. I feel that every single one of us has benefited no end from this experience. I can’t speak for everyone else, but this is something I hope to continue in the future. Some of these experiences over the last four weeks will stay with me for a long time.