It is a perfect summer’s afternoon in Cornwall. In Falmouth marina, bobbing dinghies and gnarled fishing boats mingle with the gleaming yachts. On land, the town is teeming with holidaymakers, all dipping in and out of the shops and pubs for ice creams, fish and chips and pints of Cornish cider. But out to sea, on board Grace, a 1925 Danish sailing boat on a swinging mooring 400 yards from the shore, all is calm. There is a sense that just being on board could see all the stresses of everyday life drift away.
And every few days, this boat gets to work her magic on people who desperately need to find some peace. Thanks to a charity called Sea Sanctuary, men and women suffering from mental health problems can come and stay on this 85-foot vintage sailing vessel for four days at a time.
The charity’s Sail into Life course, which has helped around 650 people in the six years it has been running, enables people to receive one-on-one and group therapy while learning about sailing; helping to maintain the boat, cooking meals for the group and, after a hard day’s work in the fresh air, sleeping deeply in simple bunks in a cabin below deck. A kind of sailing therapy, underpinned by a belief that working with one’s hands in the outdoors and meeting new people can work wonders.
“A lot of people who come to us have lost their sense of purpose,” says Joe Sabien, who founded Sea Sanctuary back in 2006 after becoming disillusioned with his work in mental health in the NHS. “Without that you’re floundering, you’re out there on your life raft with no idea what to do. This is an opportunity to reboot and build resilience.”
For Joe, a 47-year-old father-of-two who himself has suffered mental health issues, it is the setting that makes this unique form of therapy so successful. “There is something innately therapeutic about being at sea,” he says, sitting in the cosy cabin of the boat, his hands cradling a steaming mug of tea. “Here you’ve got the smell of the wood and the creaking, the wind and the water. The whole package is calming.”
Sue Gaunt agrees. She first came onto the boat back in 2013 and found the experience helped to pull her out of a severe depression. “I started to feel better immediately, which I hadn’t anticipated,” says Sue, 62. who lives in the Tamar Valley. The problem had begun when she retired and her children left home, she says. “I had lost my identity as a doctor, then I lost my identity as a mum because they’d all grown up and left. I didn’t know what to do.”
As a GP, she had been working 15-hour days. “In truth, I was burnt out. The time on the boat made me realise there were things I could do which weren’t work. Now, for the first time in my life I actually feel in control.”
Sue believes it was the physicality of the work on board Grace which helped to bring her out of a black hole more than any amount of counselling ever could.
“When I was ill I just wanted to stay indoors at home - I had no energy or motivation to do anything, so I wasn’t getting any exercise which is the worst thing for depression.
“On the boat you had to just get on with it. I was able to smile and join in and laugh at things, and to be able to do that again was very therapeutic.”
For Adrian Smith, finding Sea Sanctuary was a lifeline. After an accident left him with chronic pain, he was forced to give up a 30-year career as a maths teacher. He was quickly diagnosed with severe depression. “I think - without wishing to be melodramatic - suicide was an option,” says Adrian, 58, his eyes glassy as he thinks back to that dark time. “I’m not saying it definitely would have happened, but it was certainly something that was going through my mind. I felt I was no use to anybody, I felt my family would be better off without me. I couldn’t see a way out.
“My doctor happened to have worked at Sea Sanctuary and recommended it to me. By then I’d stopped communicating with people; I didn’t want to go out.
“Then I came on Grace for four days last summer and spent time with new people. Being here makes you think life is worth living. The sea is so calming, the setting is so important.”
Camelot hunts for lottery jackpot winner in Worcester Play! 01:09
Like Sue, Adrian no longer feels engulfed by depression. He now goes to weekly writing sessions run by Sea Sanctuary in a set of renovated shipping containers at the water’s edge in Pelryn. “It was intimidating at first, as words were foreign to me - I deal with numbers. But I found myself opening up and letting out feelings I hadn’t spoken about to anybody.”
Re-energised by the writing classes, he’s even written a children’s book inspired by his grandson, Theo. “I’m not frightened of the lows any more,” he says. “I don’t see all the blackness I did a year ago. I’m so grateful.”
Sea Sanctuary has been nominated for a National Lottery Award. The results will be broadcast on September 11 on BBC One
