Veterans Surf Therapy

Our military service members and veterans are suffering, often because they haven’t received the mental health support they so badly need and deserve.  The Department of Veteran Affairs conducted studies in 2013 and listed alarming statistics regarding the suicide rate of veterans. An average of 22 veterans a day were committing suicide, double the national average for civilians. Thus, we have another challenge, where our medical system has completely relied on the utilization of SSRI’s (antidepressants) where only 30% are getting some sort of gold standard of assistance, while the other 70% cycle through prescription after prescription with no end in sight for reprieve in their battle with depression, anxiety, trauma and PTSD and are not getting better or improving. Mental health is on rapid decline and growing.

I am here to help build a healing community that helps veterans recover and thrive in providing them with varying modalities of healing from breathwork, mediation, but more importantly creating a more dynamic flow based holistic form of healing combining the ocean and surfing, which promotes mental, psychological, and spiritual well-being.

Movement has been a huge part of my coaching framework when integrating the plant medicine with my client’s transformational journey.  It has been found with medical evidence that movement and physical effort are able to encourage metabolic processes to occur within the brain. This means that physical exercise is having a healing effect on the body. Thanks to research conducted by the American Navy, surfing is also thought to help decrease feelings of anxiety and insomnia, as well as improve a person’s perception of life and reduce symptoms of depression.

Why is the Ocean and Surfing so beneficial to Treating PTSD:

• Salt waters cathartic ability to wash away brain fog and negative emotions; by putting the person in context of something more powerful and bigger than someone’s individual life existence.
• Laser focused.  Surfing literally takes your mind off everything else going on in your life. Surfing forces you to focus on the task at hand and stay in the present moment. Mindfulness and the here and now!
• Pure adrenaline rush of surfing and the ocean can recreate the novelty that many veterans may have grown accustomed to but enables them to relax and be in tune with natural forces of ocean. Stepping into the force of the waves and absorbing the energy and power.
• Flow begins due to this optimal state of consciousness while being immersed into the ocean, the individual has now channeled this energy to be in the slot or “the zone”. Action and awareness start to emerge and our sense of self vanishes. Ego dissolution begins metamorphize into place.
• The physical exertion from a day of surfing is exhausting and literally wipes you out so that you sleep sound at night.  Insomnia is one of the most insidious aspects of PTSD.

In July 2020, Dr Alan Davis conducted a study in the Journal Chronic Stress that looked at psychedelics specifically in Special Operations Forces veterans. These were the elite of our military personnel. They are selected for Special Forces because they have demonstrated not only exceptional physical strength, but also exceptional emotional and cognitive strength. Many have had considerable trauma exposure. The population they had in their study averaged over 10 deployments each, some as many as 18, which is remarkable.

In this population, as with all veterans, but perhaps even more so, there’s a great deal of stigma around mental illness, a great deal of stigma around admitting that they are struggling. They may have unexpressed concerns about PTSD and suicidally.

What was highly significant in this study was the changes in suicidal ideation these veterans started to escape from… as well as in general mental health symptoms, that these and other veterans treated with psychedelic substances have reported. In the study I have just referred to, results indicated significant and very large reductions in retrospective report of suicidal ideation, as well as cognitive impairment and symptoms of PTSD.

With that said, most of the participants rated the psychedelic experiences as one of the top five personally meaningful (84%), spiritually significant (88%), and psychologically insightful (86%) experiences of their lives. They gave this experience as one of their top 5 experiences in their lives and that is competing with the birth of their children and or getting married.

With the use of these two powerful modalities, I will use a multifaceted approach in working with the plant medicine in conjunction with ocean/surfing therapy.  I have a master vision to create a new form of holistic care where our veterans can feal safe and vulnerable to heal and be empowered to step into their new selves with their masculine voices and begin the journey of transformation while changing the narrative of what we think and finally change the way we feel.   

The Sons of the American Legion

Newport Harbor Squadron 291