JIMMY MILLER MEMORIAL FOUNDATION

The Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation was established in 2005 to honor Jimmy Miller, an incredible waterman who focused his life around the ocean and sharing his joy of surfing with as many people as possible. Jimmy was a surfer, writer, traveler, ocean lifeguard, teacher and business owner of Pure Surfing Experience surfing school. In the summer of 2004, after a rapid onset of mental illness and a concurrent shoulder injury that kept him from surfing, Jimmy Miller committed suicide. We believe that if Jimmy would have been able to continue surfing and experiencing the healing power of the ocean, he would have won the battle against mental illness. That was…and continues to be our driving force.

The Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation (JMMF) is dedicated to helping as many people as our funding/resources allow to experience the healing power of the ocean. JMMF’s Ocean Therapy is a unique therapeutic program that couples group talk therapy with learning how to surf and experience the healing power of the ocean. JMMF literally wrote the manual for conducting ocean/surf therapy that is used by most organizations in the surf therapy field today. Buoyed by the favorable research results and inspired by Jimmy’s enduring desire to share his love of the ocean with as many people as possible, our vision and strategy includes expansion of our programming on multiple fronts:

Populations
JMMF has diversified the populations we serve through Ocean/Surf Therapy but there are many more we would like to reach. As part of our Youth Ocean Therapy Program, we currently work with eight organizations in Los Angeles that care for abused and underprivileged children, many coming from the foster care system. These children are at risk/at promise and have suffered physical, psychological and emotional abuse from domestic violence, gang warfare and other sources of trauma. We also work with survivors of suicide and children affected by cancer in their lives.

For those that served our country, our Military Ocean Therapy program serves those who have experienced trauma through conflict, sexual abuse and war. Many of our “athletes” (participants) are struggling with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse. We have expanded our program with the active-duty Marines in the Wounded Warrior Battalion-West at Camp Pendleton and offer Ocean/Surf Therapy sessions twice per month. Modeled on this program, we are now offering two Ocean Therapy sessions per month in partnership with the Warrior Foundation for those that are transitioning out of the military and into civilian life but are struggling to find their way in life. Additionally, we have partnered with the Veterans Village San Diego (a 150-bed in patient rehab facility) to create a pilot program for veterans suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction and homelessness.

Building on the success of our Youth and Military Ocean/Surf Therapy Programs, we launched the world’s first-ever frontline Healthcare Providers Ocean Therapy program in the summer of 2021. Similar to PTSD experienced in war, our frontline healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, etc.) were subjected to horrific conditions in the ICU and had to make unimaginable decisions as to who would live and who would die during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, these caregivers suffer from nightmares, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation similar to our military heroes. We believe that Ocean Therapy can supplant these terrible memories with pleasant ones learning how to surf and becoming part of the surfing community.