The Ocean Positive Approach
Accomplishing the Mission: To Positively Impact How We All Feel Think and Act Towards Our Oceans and
- We develop and implement education, outreach and action programs focused on marine conservation and aquatic safety with businesses, service groups, schools and communities around the world.
- We use open water swimming, surf life saving sports and training as vehicles to connect individuals to our oceans.
- We use innovative aquatic based surf life saving and ocean sports programs to empower and enable members of under served and physically challenged communities to become leaders, aquatic athletes and mentors with a positive impact on personal and professional development, health, well-being and quality of life.
- We undertake endurance, aquatic expeditions to explore ocean focused cultures and waters around the world while sharing these stories of excitement and adventure to inspire others to take action in addressing the challenges facing the health of our oceans and our communities.
- We work with like minded individuals, groups, corporations and foundations sharing our diverse experience, knowledge and reach to help them develop and advance their mission and goals.
Vision
Evidence Based Ocean Engagements Empowering Positive Ocean Connections & Actions that Instill in Others the Passion to Care, Strength to Act and Vision to Inspire:
Working with partners, communities, schools, corporations, agencies and governments around the world to design, develop and implement research based programs and opportunities to marry Knowledge, Means and Desire for sustainable positive impacts on the health, wellbeing and strength of our oceans and communities.
Blue Ocean Partners
A Positive Impact on Our Oceans and Communities
Wave Safe - Flagship Initiative
Released in 2020 the Wave Safe Film series was produced by NOAA's Ocean Today while the series was written and hosted by Bruckner Chase to address the challenge of educating communities visiting or living along the diverse coastlines of the United States as well as our international communities that share a similar connection to our oceans and coasts. The series was filmed over two years from the Jersey Shore to the village fo Aunu'u in American Samoa and is now available as a downloadable resource through NOAA.
Additional assets now include "Wave Safe" posters made from recycled ocean bound plastics that also include embedded technology that can instantly link users to specific coastal and ocean resources.
In development is a new "Wave Safe - Live to Be the Hero" training programs that teach basic surf life saving knowledge and skills to the non-professional rescuer that may include conservationists, tourists, swimmers, parents, surfers, triathletes, divers, or anyone who spends time along any coastline from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean.
About
Bruckner Chase and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration creatively stepped into this vacuum of information and produced the NOAA National Weather Service "Wave Safe With Bruckner Chase" Series. This groundbreaking series of demographically and geographically specific videos offers a plethora of visual assets and educational materials that is easy to understand and remember.
A Positive Impact on Our Oceans and Communities
Blue Journey Unified - Flagship Initiative
The Blue Journey Unified (BJU) program brings together communities of people with and without Spinal Cord Injuries and Disease (SCI/D) for open-water recreation, fitness, and competition through the removal of physical and social barriers that also provide a sustainable impact on quality of life and the development of community. Currently the program provides weekly outdoor, open water sessions from April through September and weekly pool sessions throughout the year. The program also coordinates additional one on one training sessions for our athletes with SCI/D who are involved in competition.
Prone paddleboarding, kayaking and open water swimming are globally practiced activities that are all components of international surf lifesaving sports as well as being individual aquatic sport disciplines practiced at open water venues around the world. In prone paddleboarding participants lie down face first on special race boards and move through the water using their hands and arms. The sport provides a unique opportunity for people with SCI/D to participate in an activity with minimal need for adapted equipment or accommodation. When people with and without SCI/D paddle next to each other it is virtually impossible to discern who arrived at the beach in a wheelchair. The inclusion of racing kayaks known as surf skis provide those who may have physical barriers to laying down prone or who prefer a different activity the chance to enhance their strength, endurance and balance that allows them to explore local waters side by side with those with and without SCI/D. Swimming is recognized as a valuable rehabilitation and exercise modality for anyone with or without a physical challenge. The addition of open water opportunities with professional coaches allows participants to immerse themselves in an outdoor activity that also frees them from many limitations they may find on land.
About
The mission of the Ocean Positive foundation is to Positively Impact How We All Feel, Think and Act Towards Our Oceans and Communities. We believe that positive impacts are sustainable only when they build community and personal connections to the oceans and outdoor areas we love and seek to protect.
At its core the Blue Journey Unified Prone Paddling program is a strength based, empowerment initiative that brings together individuals with and without SCI/D around a shared activity and sport in the outdoor environment of our local open waters.
Toa o le Tai - Heroes of the Tide
Strength Based, Community Building Training and Sport Programs Embracing a Community's Connection to Their Natural Waters and Ocean Culture
The Toa o le Tai {“Heroes of the Tides”} program supports American Samoa, similar insular territories and remote island nations in becoming global standards for resilient, healthy, safe and thriving coastal communities with the knowledge, skill and access to resources that will benefit multiple facets of their unique coastal lives. A core value is the embracement of existing cultural strengths towards strengthening social and economic capacity. “Fa’a Samoa” or the Samoan Way is part of a 3,000-year cultural connection to the islands and oceans of American Samoa. The core of this philosophy is a commitment to protect family, community and place and shows a tremendous potential to shape how remote coastal communities recognize their capacity as global leaders in a movement to positively impact our oceans while empowering individuals to become influencers in our collective quest for a higher quality of life and standard of health. The aquatic protective factors the program creates will also enable local communities to protect themselves from hazardous ocean conditions and potential drownings. The training, fitness and sport components of the program will help improve the individual health and quality of life for all participants. Immediately viable with minimal external resource needs, the physical training components utilizes the most valuable natural resource surrounding the island and connects participants to the global community of ocean and surf lifesaving athletes. Based on past initiatives working in American Samoa with adults and youth the new athletes have the potential to excel on the regional and international arena. In its first responder components the Toa o le Tai program trains and teaches members of the local Departments of Public Safety and members of the villages to enhance their strength, proficiency and water confidence as first responders to protect the community and environment. The Department of Public Safety and the villages already embody a commitment to the program’s target impact areas, yet they lack simple and ongoing access to global training tools and knowledge due to the remoteness of the community, shortage of financial resources and lack of interest and awareness from the rest of the world. At its core, the Toa o le Tai program is a strength based, mentoring approach to program design. The participants / trainees become the trainers and role models to their peers and youth creating an economically sustainable, scalable and community driven program which is a symbiotic merger of social and environmental positive change at the village, Territory, Pacific Region and international level.
Water Confidence, Strength & Fitness for Life and Lifesaving
Training, Conditioning and Sport for first responders and adult members of the community to build stronger, safer and healthier coastal communities.
Toa o le Tai Beginnings
The original Toa o le Tai program used highly trained peer educators and mentors to provide free instruction to other youth in their communities in how to safely be in and around the ocean. These peer educators are a select group of older adolescents (age 17-20) who are trained in ocean safety, open water swimming and ocean conservation. Youth who complete the Toa ole Taiâ training successfully are awarded the Toa o le Tai award and are then charged with providing classes and structured open water experiences for other youth, organized through village and/or school connections.
Professional Partnerships & Collaborations
The skill set and knowledge base we bring to our projects we offer to like minded companies and foundations. From academically grounded evidence based consulting to expedition level adventures, aquatic specialty training programs and marine event development on a global scale maybe we can help your heroes and heroic efforts.
Program Design & Evaluation
- Based in a thorough review of the evidence base for the specific population and setting of implementation
- Informed by the perspectives, barriers, and needs specific to each population with the goal of building strength-based programs to empower individuals to be the stewards of their own community’s health and wellbeing
Event, Brand & Social Impact Development
- Formative or Summative evaluations
- Qualitative or Quantitative methods
- Challenging field sites or more traditional setting
"When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself."
- Jacques Yves Cousteau