Water safety, for everyone.
Practical water safety education, professional training and leadership pathways, with a focus on communities who've been left out of water and outdoor spaces.
Water Aware Walk Leaders: now IOL accredited
When your route meets water, know what changes.
A 90-minute online course for anyone who leads walks, from community walk leaders to DofE Leaders and Mountain Leaders. Learn to read water conditions, understand cold water shock, and keep your group safe near rivers, canals, lakes and the coast.
Open sessions and private group bookings available
What is Bold Waters?
A movement for equity, wellbeing, and water justice.
Bold Waters is a social impact movement using nature and open water to build confidence, connection, and long-term change.
We exist to challenge the deep inequities around access to swimming, safety, and nature, particularly for communities historically excluded from aquatic and outdoor spaces. Drowning is a global issue that disproportionately affects these communities, and for too long, many have felt excluded from aquatic and outdoor spaces.
Bold Waters is changing that.
Our work is multi-layered and cross generational, combining swim safety and water confidence with wellness, employability, and leadership. We create practical pathways that remove barriers and empower people not just to participate but to lead.
At the heart of Bold Waters is a belief:
Nature is for everyone. Water is for everyone. Leadership is for everyone.
Through our programmes, training and consultancy, we support people and organisations at every stage:
WaveMakers (14–21): an introduction to water safety, nature, and wellbeing
Global Flow (16-25): an international leadership and employability programme with real world qualifications and global teaching placements.
Training & Workshops: professional training for people who work and lead around water, including our IOL accredited Water Aware Walk Leaders course.
Inclusion & Cultural Competence Consultancy: helping organisations make aquatic and outdoor spaces more inclusive.
Whether it’s your first time in open water or the start of a new career, Bold Waters opens the door to possibility, purpose, and global impact.
Why It Matters
Fear of water doesn’t come from nowhere.
For many, it’s passed down through generations shaped by exclusion, bad experiences, or simply never being given the chance. When you grow up feeling like water, nature, or leadership spaces aren’t for you, it impacts your confidence, your wellbeing, and the future you believe is possible.
We’re here to change that.
Each year, hundreds of lives are lost to drowning in the UK and over 300,000 globally. Most of these deaths happen in open water and disproportionately affect young people from racially minoritised, low-income, and historically excluded communities. 193 accidental water-related deaths in the UK in 2024 (National Water Safety Forum). The barriers are clear: limited swim access, lack of safety education, fear, and disconnection from natural spaces.
Bold Waters exists to interrupt this cycle from every angle.
We combine water safety with confidence building, wellbeing, and nature immersion. We create safe, supported entry points for those who feel afraid, overlooked, or unwelcome. And we offer pathways into qualifications, leadership, and employment helping participants move from fear, to confidence, to purpose.
Our approach is holistic. Participants don’t just learn how to stay afloat they reconnect with nature, rediscover their voice, and develop the tools to lead change. They leave with real world skills, lifelong memories, and a sense of belonging in places they were never meant to be excluded from.
We believe that water safety is a right, not a privilege.
That wellbeing is a form of justice.
That nature is for everyone.
And that every person deserves the chance to explore, lead, and live without fear.
INCLUSION & CULTURAL COMPETENCE
Inclusive spaces don't happen by accident
We work with leisure operators, outdoor providers, sports bodies, schools and local authorities to make aquatic and outdoor spaces more welcoming for everyone. Through consultancy and cultural competency CPD grounded in lived experience, we help teams understand the barriers people face, build confidence in their practice and create lasting change.
On our Cultural Competence in Leisure and Aquatics CPD:
"The CPD addresses a vital need within the aquatics and leisure sector, equipping professionals with the awareness, confidence, and practical tools needed to support diverse communities and create more inclusive environments."
Kaylë Brightwell, Director of Education, STA
WaveMakers
Water Safety. Confidence. Real-World Skills
WaveMakers brings water safety education to schools, colleges and youth groups, through assemblies, interactive workshops and a one-day open water safety programme.
It teaches young people the practical skills they need to stay safe around open water environments such as rivers, lakes and beaches. The programme combines water safety education with supervised open water experience in a structured and supportive setting.
WaveMakers is designed for students aged 14+ and is delivered by qualified instructors in partnership with outdoor water venues.
WaveMakers is more than a lesson. It's a first step into nature, confidence and community. For some, it's also the start of a longer journey into leadership through our Global Flow programme.
Global Flow
From Local Leadership to Global Impact
Global Flow is our flagship programme. A six month leadership and employability programme for young people ready to step into purpose.
Designed for underserved communities, it offers access to qualifications, international experience, and the chance to lead real change.
Participants will:
Gain lifeguarding and swim instructor qualifications
Build skills in leadership, communication, and cultural competency
Receive mentorship and join a peer community
Take part in a four-week international teaching placement
Support global drowning prevention and become a Bold Waters ambassador
Whether they go into aquatics or apply these skills elsewhere, participants leave with confidence, qualifications, and a global outlook.
“This is more than a programme. It’s a pathway to purpose.”
Applications for this cohort are now closed.
Every organisation we work with helps fund life-changing opportunities like this.
TRAINING & WORKSHOPS
Skills that keep people safe.
Professional training and CPD for people who work and lead in and around water. From STA First Aid & CPR and the STA Level 2 Swimming Teacher qualification to our IOL accredited Water Aware Walk Leaders course, our training builds the knowledge, judgement and confidence to keep others safe.
Confident leaders. Safer communities.
