Therapy for trauma survivors

Trust and confidence building

Perseverance through difficulties

Therapeutic Outdoor Sport for youth trauma survivors

Few programs in urban communities have the impact that the PAL's Surf program has on the lives of young people touched by violence, tragedy or emotional pain.

The Therapeutic Outdoor Sport program is a special, invitation-only program at the PAL that brings inner city kids who have experienced the harsh realities of society together with inner city police officers who serve in a challenging environment. We are bridging the gap between those two worlds utilizing the ultimate equalizer, the ocean. Our Police Athletic League children and Kansas City, Kansas Police Officers build relationships of trust and healing. As they learn to surf, the two groups come together to share in their successes and persevere through the difficulties of the sport.

The PAL offers the program at no cost to children who have experienced trauma in their lives. The therapy and support of training for the program is done under trained police officers, mentors and instructors who help the kids learn to swim, confront their fears, and conquer new physical and mental skills. The program is based on evidence-based research that has proven to help PTSD symptoms and depression in first responders and now, teens in this innovative PAL program in KCK.

Helping our community's most vulnerable kids.



Young people that are selected for the surf program spend months in preparation, learning a series of confidence-building skills that help them experience new feelings of trust and accomplishment. They are given swim lessons - most for the first time. For kids in the urban core, the new skills development in this program is life-changing.