Tara Jeisman says Sea Gals wasn’t specifically set up for “finding friends” but the nature of its safe and non-judgemental space has allowed women from all walks of life to build new social connections.
In just three short years, Sea Gals has grown from a meetup of five women at the beach, to one of Australia’s leading women’s communities. The premise is simple: come and join a group of women for an ocean dip each week, just as you are.
It’s now supported hundreds of women to connect at their events in Perth and in locations across the country, year-round.
“A lot of the time Perth is very cliquey,” Jeisman tells Women’s Agenda.
“We always say at our dips, if you see someone sitting by themselves and you’re in a group, make eye contact and bring them in. And if you come by yourself and you see a group, don’t be scared to sit in with them.”
The community building and social connections being made at Sea Gals are helping to combat the rising feelings of loneliness so many Australians are experiencing.
Loneliness—defined as the emotional experience that occurs when there is a gap between the social connections a person wants and the ones they actually have—is a looming social problem.
And according to the latest Medibank Loneliness Population Index, it is identified by a quarter of Australians as a top two mental health condition affecting Australia today.
Building community in an isolated city
Perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world. Loneliness can be a very real feeling for those who have lived there their whole lives, as well as for those who recently moved there, Jeisman says.
More than half of Australians feel lonely in a typical week, according to Medibank’s research and in Western Australia, that figure sits at 53 per cent. Meanwhile, a massive 75 per cent of people agree that describing loneliness to other people is a difficult thing to do.
Jeisman says the way Sea Gals allows women to find their own empowerment can help to address feelings of loneliness.
“Loneliness in the most isolated city in the world, in Perth, is rough,” she says.
“There was a girl that attended [a recent] dip and she doesn’t have a car, and so she messaged me to say, ‘Hey, I would love to see if someone could carpool’. I put it up on the stories on Instagram and she ended up coming because someone reached out to her.
“She had not been to the beach with another person in 18 months, because she doesn’t have anyone in her circle to do it with.
“Just the way that she described being in the water with other women and not having a quick dip by herself—she just sounded so relieved and excited to not feel that loneliness anymore.”
An intersection of body acceptance and social connection
As Jeisman describes, Sea Gals is a safe space to meet new friends, connect with yourself (and the ocean!) and to build better body acceptance in a body-obsessed culture.
“I don’t place so much emphasis on it at the dips, because people naturally are so engrossed in the actual event, they forget about their bodies,” Jeisman says.
“I love it because you see, people find their freedom. They stop overthinking about ‘how do I look?’ or ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have worn this bikini’.”
Jeisman says her and her team have built this safe space for women by simply being themselves.
“I’ve put myself out there from the beginning,” Jeisman says. “I’ve always said I’ve got PCOS, so my acne is flaring up all the time. I haven’t shaved and I haven’t washed my hair, and I’m with all of you right now, and I feel comfortable.”
“I just name it, and then people find they don’t need to pretend to be anyone else but themselves, and they can just be in the body that they have without having to feel like they need to pretend.”
It’s this sense of freedom that sees women at Sea Gals build strong friendships, rooted in a sense of authenticity that is not always easy to come by at other networking and friendship events.
“It’s really grounding to be in the ocean. It’s almost like it’s one of those moments where you realise that there’s so many bigger things in the world than the anxiety around meeting people.”
Looking into the future, Jeisman says she would love for Sea Gals to be known nationally— and maybe globally one day— as a safe space for women to go and find connection or some support.
“We just had our third birthday, and it’s definitely evolved into a place of connecting women and helping them find their freedom but also understanding that they can do so much more than what they thought they could.”
To learn more about Medibank’s commitment to reducing loneliness head to We Are Lonely | Medibank.
About the research
Research commissioned by FiftyFive5 on behalf of Medibank. Research was conducted in July 2024, among a sample of (n=4,131) Australians.