As a lifelong surfer, born to pioneering surfing parents and named after a wave, the ocean has shaped my identity and sense of belonging. The movement and touch of ocean waves ignites a whole cascade of changes in emotions in me and affects how I sense the world around me. Scientific research is now evidencing what I have intuitively known and felt my whole life – the power of the sea to heal.
Ocean therapy or blue care involves ocean programmes and water-based activities designed to help people cope with mental, emotional and physical illness by accessing the ocean. Engaging with blue spaces – from marine and coastal environments to inland lakes and rivers – can have restorative health and wellbeing outcomes. As a marine social scientist, I firmly believe that this so-called “blue attunenement”, the ability to create a connection with these blue spaces, is at the core of improving efforts to restore ocean health.
