Brooke Paterson

Director/Co-Founder

Brooke grew up near Fremantle and spent much of her youth at the beach body surfing and body boarding at Scarborough, Trigg and in Margaret River when holidaying with her family. She learnt to surf a little later in life and she truly doesn’t know what she did with her time before she started surfing. Brooke relocated to Margaret River in 2016. Brooke has enjoyed traveling to various surf locations, particularly enjoying the more remote ones, which allows for disconnection from the modern world.

Brooke has an undergraduate degree in a Bachelor of Science of Occupational Therapy and post graduate qualifications in Emotion Focused Psychotherapy. She currently works in the Margaret River Community Mental Health Clinic in the youth team providing risk assessment, safety planning and therapy that focuses on emotion regulation, distress tolerance and mindfulness skills. Brooke also works privately at Fearn Health and Wellbeing, providing focused psychological therapy to young people and adults. Surfing and getting in the ocean is an essential part of the way Brooke supports her mental and emotional wellbeing. She gains great solace from the immersive experience of being in and around the ocean and finds it healing, humbling, and nourishing.

Rob West

Program Manager/Co-founder

Rob was born and raised in Margaret River and the ocean and surfing has always been an integral part of his life. His mum taught him to surf when he was 11 and he still vividly remembers the stoke following his first proper green wave at Huzzas.

He has over ten years’ experience working as a Mental Health Occupational Therapist in both Australia and the United Kingdom. He has worked in a variety of mental health roles including group therapy program, community mental health teams and inpatient unit. He has completed additional training in somatic psychotherapy, acceptance commitment therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.  He currently works for headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation as a Senior Clinical Advisor in a digital mental health program. He is passionate about early Intervention Youth mental Health and for providing individuals access to group therapy outside of the conventional clinic environment.

Fynn Mueller

Program Manager/Co-Founder

Hailing from South Australia, Fynn has always been close to the ocean. He spent his younger years on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula, taking to the water on all sorts of craft from twin fins to longboards. The energising power of the ocean helps him stay focused, healthy, and humbled.

Fynn is a trained a teacher and has also obtained his Youth Mental Health First Aid, ASIST training and is currently studying a Certificate IV in Mental Health.

“As a teacher I know how difficult it can be for some young people to engage in a school setting. I’m really stoked to be able to use the beach and ocean as a classroom to show young people how to surf and help them learn about their mental health.  The results we have seen have been really positive and we are looking forward to running many programs into the future”.