As part of its Good Mental Health Guides series in cooperation with the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN), the Shipowners Club issued two infographics focusing on mindfulness and mental health to enhance wellbeing onboard.
The extension of the cooperation on mental health issues dates back a decade when the Club noticed that many claims were related to crew-related incidents onboard. The Good Mental Health series resulted in the first publication of a booklet in November highlighting the importance of doing the things that make us happy, as evidence suggests that actively and intentionally making time to engage in things we like to do can have a real and positive impact on our wellbeing.
The second and most recent release in the series provided seafarers with proactive Steps to Positive Mental Health, providing specific coping strategies that can be easily adopted to reduce stress levels at sea.
The first infographic can be displayed on board to remind crew of mindful techniques for managing stress.
In addition to this new release, a second infographic has been produced to highlight key components of positive mental health, summarised as BACES (which stands for Body, Achieve, Connect, Enjoy and Step Back). This provides seafarers with clear and concise measures for maintaining a positive mental state. This again, can be displayed on board to allow easy reference for crew and would be most effective displayed alongside the Mindfulness infographic in crew areas.
