Now they've been kitted out with a brand new van, which will allow them to take their innovative surf and wellbeing program out to different communities and reach people dealing with mental health issues.

The van was purchased with a $58,000 grant from the Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation and comes at a good time for the charity.

After COVID-19 put the kibosh on the face-to-face program for a few months, Waves of Wellness recently recommenced its surf therapy sessions and has been helping people struggling through the pandemic. The sessions include a group wellbeing discussion and a learn to surf session and are led by trained clinicians who double as surf instructors.

"It's been so exciting to get back in the water," Waves of Wellness CEO Joel Pilgrim said. "It's been great to connect with people virtually, but there's nothing like being on the sand. It's just incredible to see the kind of impact it's having every week.

"People might have had a really tough week then they get down here and to be able to first of all share that, but package it up while they get in the water for an hour or so and have a bunch of fun has been great."

"COVID has been an amazing introduction to mental health discussions. Many more people are talking about mental health, it's become much more normalised, but it also shows the depth at which people are struggling."

The organisation operates its local program out of Nobbys Beach, but Mr Pilgrim said the van will allow greater flexibility to take it to different areas including Lake Macquarie, the Central Coast and North Coast.

Mr Pilgrim said the van also added a layer of security to the equipment, which was previously stored in a portable trailer at Nobbys.

"It's just changed our lives," he said. "It's so handy, it's so useful but it will also allow us to do so much more."

Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation chairman Phil Neat said the foundation aimed to support charities which helped isolated and marginalised communities as well as mental health initiatives, so Waves of Wellness was more than worthy of the donation.

"They're out there working with people who are going through a really hard time," he said. "They were using their own vehicles, which is a big ask on people so the van was sorely needed."

The donation was Mr Neat's final presentation as chairman after 17 years in the role, and was quite fitting as he is a former surfer.

"As an old board rider I'm very aware of the healing benefits of surf," he said. "This is a very innovate program. You can see the difference it is making."