Exmouth's Ningalens dives in deep for mental health
Alicia PereraPilbara News
Friday, 20 July 2018 2:00PM
Camera IconBlueback Freediving and Yoga teacher Tania Douthwaite is hoping to bring her new freediving for mental health workshop to Ningalens. Credit: Tom Braithwaite
Exmouth's Ningalens Festival could play host to a mental health course with an aquatic bent that may be the first of its type in WA.
Fremantle free diver and teacher Tania Douthwaite, who runs dive-training business Blueback Freediving and Yoga, has been in talks with festival organisers and Free the Funk Exmouth to canvas interest in classes that introduce people to free diving and the breathing techniques it involves as a strategy to deal with mental health issues.
If it gets off the ground, it will mark a first-time trial of a program the long-term free-diving teacher, who has recently started a diploma in counselling, hopes eventually to roll out as a regular part of her businesses.
Ms Douthwaite said while she knew of other types of diving courses designed to improve mental health, for example scuba diving, she had never heard of it being done for free diving.
But she said she knew from personal experience how calming free diving could be after practising it played a major role in helping her heal from post traumatic stress disorder in the wake of a personal tragedy.
"Each free dive involves a four-step process," she said.
"The first step is always the same and it's relaxation, and it's the key one for me."
"If you don't know how to relax, you will not have a good dive so that comes with relaxation techniques and learning how to relax the body and mind, and the breath is the key to that.
"So we do a lot of breath work."
Ms Douthwaite has been fundraising to help get the program off the ground and is aiming to raise enough money to sponsor several Exmouth residents experiencing mental health issues and in financial hardship to take part in the course.
If it goes ahead, the sessions will consist of two one-day workshops over the Ningalens weekend introducing participants to basic breath work and free diving theory to help them relax.
Ms Douthwaite said she was hoping to put her course theory into practice at the Exmouth event.
"This is a trial to see if we can get it off the ground, but from my experience I've seen the evidence that it's effective," she said.
"Free diving uses a process that encourages people to go deeper, and I think that can be a transformational process."
Organisers need numbers before the Free Diving for Mental Health course can go ahead and are calling for expressions of interest.
To register your interest, go to the Blueback Freediving and Yoga or Free the Funk Exmouth Facebook pages.
This year's Ningalens, an annual Exmouth short film festival, is being supported by mental health organisation Act- Belong-Commit.
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