Surf Lifesaving NZ’s peer support helps lifeguards’ mental health in beach rescues

As Kiwis head to the beaches to relax this summer, it’ll be no holiday for the lifeguards keeping a watchful eye. Many of these volunteers are involved in stressful - and even traumatic - situations, sometimes from as young as 14 years old. But Surf Lifesaving New Zealand’s new peer support strategy aims to ensure all its members are supported when faced with confronting scenes. Bella Craig reports.

With scorching winds and looming swells, the sun beats down on New Zealand’s most notorious beaches at the height of summer.

Crowds fill the beaches and people circle the lifeguard tower with cuts, bruises, jellyfish stings and heat exhaustion, while others tackle the powerful surf, and strong rips tow panicked swimmers out to sea, waiting to be rescued.

Lifeguarding is often seen as a laid-back summer job for young people, but that is not the case for many of New Zealand’s surf lifeguards.

As with volunteer firefighters and paramedics, lifeguards are first responders in difficult situations, with many rescues involving confronting scenes that require instant action.

Research shows lifeguards are at the same risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder as other emergency staff. And the need for effective support for young lifeguards has been seen in Australia, where many experience high levels of anxiety, PTSD and have been found to be at risk of depression.

On this side of the Tasman, Surf Lifesaving New Zealand’s (SLSNZ) peer support system offers mental health support for lifeguards, where trained staff members offer debriefs and follow-up checks for fellow lifeguards, especially younger ones.

A 20-year-old lifeguard, based at Taylors Mistake Surf Life Saving Club in Christchurch, found that peer support system invaluable after responding to an incident this year.

“It was pretty heavy; we ended up having to do CPR on a person, and unfortunately, they didn’t make it,” he said.

It was his first time doing CPR on someone, and while he felt like he had the necessary training to respond, “when you go in and do it, there’re so many unknowns.”

The next day, he struggled to sleep, as “everything is replaying in your mind over and over, you think about what you could’ve done to have a better outcome”.

“You question if you did everything correctly and if you did something wrong.”

Lifeguards head out into the surf to rescue swimmers from dangerous seas. Photo / Tania Whyte

Two days after the incident, SLSNZ organised a debrief with the lifeguards and peer support staff.

The lifeguard was also contacted by Benestar, SLSNZ’s chosen counselling service.

“I went to a couple of sessions and then a month later, they called me to check up and see how I was going,” he said.

Peer support staff told the lifeguards at the debrief that members of the public who witnessed the event said they “did a really good job”.

“It was drilled into us that we did everything correctly. It just unfortunately wasn’t the outcome that we wanted.”

The lifeguard works full-time over the summer and has also responded to a number of smaller incidents, involving out-of-water emergencies.

Last summer, he responded to a car crash that happened right behind the surf club, using his first aid skills.

“It’s interesting people’s viewpoints on how lifeguards should just be at the beach watching the water, not responding to other things going on,” he said.

“We are doing our job in a way that the public doesn’t realise.

“Main priority is the flags but we also have to keep an eye on everyone.”

Gabriella De Latour, a surf lifeguard from South Brighton Surf Lifesaving Club in Christchurch, said lifeguarding was a tiring job that often involved stressful situations.

“It’s very draining. You’re on the beach, obviously, for the whole day in the elements so it’s very mental as well as physical.”

Lifeguard Gabriella De Latour says the job is physically and mentally demanding. Photo / Supplied

Last summer, De Latour witnessed a lot of near misses, especially for swimmers outside the red and yellow flags, “so you almost have to be prepared for the unexpected”.

And when she was 16, a person died while she was on duty at a Coromandel beach.

Normally her coping mechanism for dealing with stress was going for a swim, but after that event, swimming was the last thing she felt like doing.

“Our happy space gets taken away.”

De Latour said SLSNZ helped her debrief the event and offered ongoing support if she wanted it.

“For someone that young to deal with a really confronting rescue, where it didn’t turn out as expected, how do you deal with it?”

However, while lifeguards can be as young as 14, that doesn’t mean they don’t have adequate skills and training to deal with situations, De Latour said.

“People do have a perception we’re just a bunch of young kids on a beach, earning some extra money,” she said.

“They don’t think about how impacted we are just through day-to-day events.”

Francesca Laney, a lifeguard at Wāitarere Surf Lifesaving Club, said members of the public often think they are not doing anything, due to the small size of their club.

“We have people coming up to us all the time, asking if we are doing our jobs properly.”

She also said although the surf club does not deal with major incidents regularly, lifeguards are constantly rescuing swimmers, as they refuse to stay between the flags.

“We’ve never had anything really bad happen here, but we do rescues in the water all the time. It’s stressful as you hear about other clubs that have had bad outcomes.”

To be on patrol in New Zealand, lifeguards are required to pass their Surf Lifeguard Award.

It involves advanced first aid training, rescue techniques, learning about the surf environment and fitness training.

Surf lifeguards will patrol our beaches throughout the summer.

To maintain their skills, lifeguards must train through summer as well as during winter.

Ari Peach, the national wellbeing lead for SLSNZ, said one of the hardest things in his role was working with lifeguards’ strong commitment to their communities.

“They have a huge sense of responsibility when something goes wrong; receiving judgment has a really negative impact on them because they’re already so hard on themselves.”

In 2021, SLSNZ changed its policy on delivering counselling for lifeguards who experienced a traumatic incident while on duty.

The new strategy involved training 174 experienced lifeguards to provide immediate mental health support for lifeguards at the scene and ongoing support after the event.

Peach said the older techniques SLSNZ used were seen as controversial and unhelpful by staff.

“Sending counsellors out to the beach, who the lifeguards don’t know, doesn’t help and can make things worse.”

Bruce Lomax, a lifeguard with more than 40 years of experience, is a peer supporter and has provided post-incident support across Christchurch.

If an incident occurs at a beach in the city, Lomax will be notified by SLSNZ and called down to the surf club.

He will help debrief the situation and give one-on-one support to all lifeguards present at the scene.

“We take care of everybody. You’ve got to bear in mind that some of these lifeguards are only 14 years old.”

The initiative is similar to St John’s peer mental health support system and has been found to be highly effective for lifeguards who face serious incidents regularly.

In 2021, there were 91 recreational (intending to be in the water) and non-recreational (no intention of being in the water) preventable drowning deaths - the highest number since 2011, according to Water Safety New Zealand.

Lomax said the response to the peer support system had been very positive - “I haven’t had a negative reaction from anybody yet.”