socialimpact – Pass the Salt

Swim England’s research shows that swimming improves physical and mental wellbeing, actively reducing depression and anxiety in regular swimmers. Swimming has the power to help people live longer, better, happier lives – and as regular sea swimmers we know that swimming in natural, outdoor water like the sea, turbo boosts this power.

Seabirds is all about helping more people access the healing power of the sea and building community. We are a ‘Social Enterprise’. This means we run our business to do some good in the world, with the community’s interest at the heart of what we do.

This is how we do it:

Salted Wellbeing: Swimming for mental health

As mental health warriors Seabirds continues to promote Mental Health Awareness through our blog, social media posts and within our Swim Community.

Swim for All: Diversity and Inclusion

Our focus in 2022 will be on those who are unable to swim and work with other organisations to increase the diversity of the group to encourage more of our local community to access the sea as a way of managing their wellbeing.

We’ve signed up to the Black Swimming Association DIPER Charter and want to see the swimming community better reflect our whole community. We plan to support this by expanding our funding of courses of swimming lessons in local pools and provision of swim kit for both children and adults that are underrepresented in the outdoor swimming community. We have exciting plans to work with a local cycling community group, Brighton Multi-Ethnic Wheelers (BMWs!) to run beginner swimming lessons for their members.

Change the narrative

In 2022 we’re very excited to sponsor the film 54 Days exploring mental health, race, friendship, grief and wild swimming which highlights men’s mental health and challenges the narrative that ‘black people don’t swim’. (Please give their social media a follow and share so that we spread the word before the film comes out. )

Share the Swim Love: Community

We continue to nurture our Salty Seabird community (now at 4600 members!), which has been a lifeline for many during the pandemic. The community continues to amaze us with the love and support that the members offer each other through a shared love of getting in the sea.

We run confidence courses to provide a holding hand for people interested in swimming in the sea but nervous to join an established group.

Love where you Live: Environment

Seabirds stands for clean seas, clean beaches and the elimination of plastic pollution. We try to keep our environmental impact to a minimum. Locally we support sister Social Enterprise – Leave No Trace Brighton – with beach cleans and advocacy; and nationally we are members of Surfers Against Sewage’s 250 club, our way of being part of a powerful network of leaders, driving forward a movement for change and to protect the UK’s unique coastal environment.

Pay it Forward

To date we have raised over £17,000, which has:

been donated to local charities
funded swimming lessons, swim kit and pool access to local asylum seekers and;
funded our own sessions free or heavily subsidised for NHS workers and marginalised groups.

This is with huge thanks to all of you who have supported our mission by buying swim kit , signing up for swimming lessons, donated directly or taken part in our Arctic Tern Challenge Fundraiser. Thank you! xxx