The WOW Factor: Participant Matt Shares His Story

Matt, third from right, with the Bondi Surf n Sand group

Matt, aged 26, attended a WOW Sand N Surf program at Bondi Beach, Sydney in 2021.

“I’m happy that I’ve done something about my mental health, as it affects all aspects of life. This [program] helped me manage my stress and just chill out a bit.”

 Words: Rob O’Hara

There were 10 people in Matt’s group, ranging in age from 24 to 61 and each coming to the group from different backgrounds and mental health experiences. Having lived with anxiety for most of his life, Matt had suppressed these feelings as a teenager, although as day-to-day pressures increased during his transition into adult life, he found this anxiousness was becoming harder to manage on his own.

“[anxiety] Affected me my whole life. Now, going into my mid-adult life, things are piling up and there is more pressure. It started becoming a little bit too much to handle… I had a couple of panic attacks.”

Matt first heard about the Waves of Wellness program via a post on Instagram. He then realised that one of his close friends had recently participated in a program himself, so decided to reach out to them and share what had been going on for him. Matt’s friend recommended that he sign up and give the program a try.

“It was my first step in accessing resources to support my mental health. I was learning to surf at the time, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to start doing something about it [mental health] while getting further into surfing”.

In taking this first step towards addressing his mental health, Matt was apprehensive about the program and unsure what to expect.

“I thought it was going to be a massive psychology session and people were going to unload, but I didn’t feel that in the first session. It was unobtrusive and no one was pushed to share. The way the groups were run was a great way to start accessing support. It still felt personal, without feeling like I had to share too much.” 

Thankfully, the beach setting helped ease him into the conversations. 

“The ocean setting is relaxing and calming and provided the opportunity to get in touch with nature while living in the city”.

The group created a safe and supportive space in which participants felt comfortable sharing their own personal challenges and perspectives on how to manage their mental health and overall wellbeing. This provided significant benefits – both through sharing their own experiences, and learning from others’ perspectives.

“That group were the first people I’ve opened up to about my anxiety and mental health. I got the reward of sharing and having people listening. It was a feeling of relief - being able to say things out loud without fear of being judged… The broad lessons learned in the group could be applied to your own life.” 

Throughout the 6-week program, Matt learned a lot about himself and his own mental health journey.

“I hadn’t given much consideration to the mental health side of me. It was evident to me that it affected my life a lot more than I had realised.”

He also found it helpful to be part of a group and learn from other participants’ experiences.  

“It’s not something that only I suffer with - there are a whole bunch of people going through the same stuff as me. This was comforting to learn that it’s not just you that has experiences with mental health. If you just ask someone else, they might be going through something similar.”

The learnings from the Sand N Surf program went further than discussions on the sand, encouraging Matt to engage in meaningful check-ins with those close to him and access mental health services beyond the program. He has also continued to surf!

“I want to keep sharing and listening to other people… I learned that there are a lot of resources out there to utilise. For example, the mental health care plan was something I utilised straight away after the program. The program gave me the motivation to see a psychologist fortnightly. Sometimes I don’t feel I have much to talk about, but it always feels great.”

In asking Matt what advice he has for future WOW participants, he had this to say:

“There’s nothing to be worried about - you can share as much or as little as you want. It’s great to listen to others and find similarities to apply this to your own life. Even if you don’t struggle with your mental health this is a great tool to utilise and keep you in check. I would’ve looked back and kicked myself if I didn’t go”.

We’re all about bringing the WOW factor to mental health, so keep an eye out for these magic case studies in the future as we dive deep into what makes people tick, and the essence of their experience with WOW. If you'd like to share your story, drop us a line!