Skateboarding has long carried a sense of freedom, creativity, and expression, but its potential as a therapeutic tool is gaining recognition thanks to innovative projects like Joel Pippus’s Push to Heal. In a May 2023 interview with Jenkem Mag, Joel Pippus shares how skateboarding can play a role in trauma recovery, drawing from both neuroscience and lived experience.”
Illustration from Jenkem Mag
where Skateboarding Meets Neuroscience
Joel Pippus, who works at Hull Services – a center for childhood trauma – has been exploring how skateboarding aligns with Dr. Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model (NM). This model, which explains developmental and therapeutic processes in the brain, parallels the skills and experiences required in skateboarding. Just as you can’t land a backside tail on a hubba before mastering an ollie, NM emphasizes foundational learning and development.
Pippus noticed that elements of skateboarding, such as the sound of wheels on concrete, the repetitiveness of tricks, and the banter at skateparks, contribute to calming the brain. This calmness is crucial in therapeutic settings, allowing for better problem-solving, relationship building, and trauma healing.
From Ice Rinks to Skateparks
Pippus’s journey into combining skateboarding with therapy began when Hull Services transformed an old hockey rink into the Matt Banister Memorial Skatepark. This park, built in memory of a young man whose life was positively impacted by skateboarding, became a pivotal space for therapeutic progress. Pippus observed that kids who initially struggled in therapy showed marked improvement through their interactions with skateboarding.
Therapeutic Benefits of Skateboarding
The therapeutic benefits of skateboarding extend beyond the physical. Skateboarding offers a less intimidating environment for interaction, allowing for side-by-side engagement rather than face-to-face conversations. This setup provides control and autonomy, crucial for children who have experienced trauma. It also fosters natural social skills through skatepark etiquette, where empathy and turn-taking are built-in aspects of the experience.
Pippus highlights how overcoming challenges in skateboarding, such as learning a trick or dropping in, can parallel overcoming personal fears and stress. The manageable doses of stress encountered in skateboarding help build resilience, contrasting with the overwhelming stress many of these kids have faced in their lives.
A Lasting Impact
The impact of skateboarding doesn’t end with therapy. Pippus notes that some kids continue to skate after leaving the program, finding it a valuable outlet for maintaining emotional regulation and resilience. Skateboarding, as Pippus believes, has the potential to enrich various settings—community, education, and mental health.
For Pippus, skateboarding is not just a professional tool but a personal source of rejuvenation. It provides him with a creative outlet and a way to stay grounded, reinforcing the idea that the benefits of skateboarding are as profound for the practitioner as they are for the beneficiaries.
Joel Pippus’s work with Push to Heal exemplifies how skateboarding can transcend its role as a sport to become a powerful therapeutic tool. By aligning with neuroscience and offering a unique, empathetic approach to therapy, skateboarding is proving to be a valuable resource for healing and resilience. For those of us in the skateboarding community, it’s a reminder of the deeper impacts our passion can have on mental well-being.
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