SEAstem, the first of its kind in the world, is an educational, therapeutic, and rehabilitative model that helps thousands cope with emotional challenges and access their inner strengths.
This unique model integrates theory and practice using the sea and surfing. Together, they create a dynamic space for engaging with a full range of human emotions and sensations, processing them, and developing practical tools to cope with them. Just like in the sea, so too in life.
Over the past decade, this model has served as HaGal Sheli’s professional foundation, enabling the organization to support diverse populations who go on to experience significant improvement in their quality of life and overall well-being.
SEAstem Components
HaGal Sheli’s programs offer participants a stable, safe framework that creates a genuine sense of security and clear boundaries. The sea and its surrounding nature perfectly mirror life’s challenges, calming and regulating on one hand, yet full of dynamic waves, unpredictable currents, and a constant quest for balance, falling and rising again, on the other.
The modular design of HaGal Sheli’s programs reflects this same flexibility, enabling the organization to tailor its approach to the unique needs of diverse populations and individual stages of development.
Surfing creates an immersive experience that can evoke powerful emotions, allowing participants to face them head-on and address them in real time. Through the integration of body and mind, movement and dialogue, a space is created for processing experiences, emotional regulation, and skill development.
The relationships formed through communal processing alongside the shared values within the group, strengthen a sense of belonging and positive identity, creating a community that serves as an anchor and a stable source of support in participants’ lives.
Participants in HaGal Sheli’s programs take part in multi-stage, multi-year programs, typically beginning with an introductory track that establishes an initial connection to surfing and the peer community. Over time, groups evolve into lasting communities, creating a meaningful life journey – from building strong foundations, to developing a sense of belonging and personal resilience, to acquiring leadership and instructional skills, and ultimately opening doors to greater employment opportunities.