Surrey Care Trust 2022
Dost Centre Session 2022

SURREY CARE TRUST BLUESPACE SESSION – JULY 2022

AquaPaddle provided a BlueSpace Paddleboarding session to Surrey Care Trust clients in July 2022.  Surrey Care Trust (http://www.surreycaretrust.co.uk/) provides learning, training, and mentoring to support young people and adults in improving their chances in life.

The session aimed to bring together a group of young people undergoing mentoring to benefit from being out on the water and learning a new skill to improve their confidence and well-being. 

AquaPaddle worked with their local Delivery Partner in Godalming to provide the session. The team ran a session for 7 young people and care workers, involving explaining the equipment and safety, warm-up games and learning to paddleboard in a safe and fun environment in the beautiful Surrey Countryside and River Wey.  The young people enjoyed a fun adventure, and all challenged themselves to paddle and stand.

The participants learnt to control a paddle board safely, get in and out of the water and work together on team challenges, such as forming a “snake of boards”.  All the participants were able to stand and control their boards. They all went home happy and having achieved a new skill and many overcome fears, nerves and anxiety over group situations to take part.

The participants said:

“My mentee loves paddleboarding! So much so that she wants to be a paddleboard teach when she is older.”

“I was nervous to get on the paddleboard, but all the helpers gave me confidence I didn’t think I would have”.

Surrey Care Trust said:

“We want to say a big THANK YOU to AquaPaddle. Such access to ‘blue space’ gave the young people the chance to do something new and to really engage with nature – all of which benefits their mental health and wellbeing.”

DOST CENTRE AT WEY ISLAND AUGUST 2022

AquaPaddle provided a BlueSpace session for the Dost Centre Charity (https://www.dostcentre.co.uk/). Dost works with young refugees who have experienced many challenges and often arrive in the UK feeling alone, vulnerable, isolated and lost.

The session occurred at the scenic Wey Island Trust’s base on the River Wey near Byfleet in Surrey.

The AquaPaddle team was comprised of two experienced ISA Coaches, one of whom is a qualified Mental Health First Aider and a supporting experienced paddler. The Young People were split into small groups so that they could be looked after and taught about water safety, paddleboarding and the dangers of rivers.  The Young People were taught paddleboarding, how to rescue themselves and others as well as exploring the River Wey and the local flora and fauna.

The DOST Centre said:

“We had a great session with AquaPaddle and 15 young people from @Dost_Centre this week.  Young people aged 15-18 years from Syria, Iran, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Vietnam had their first paddleboarding experience and all managed to stand up and be confident enough to travel down the river, even though many of them had limited swimming ability or are not confident in the water. It was a really fun session and all the young people enjoyed it. Thanks a lot!”