Crew welfare is a very important issue nowadays ; the COVID-19 pandemic has actually brought forward such an important issue. In the recent SAFETY4SEA Virtual Forum, Mr. Johan Smith, Wellness at Sea Programme Manager at Sailors’ Society, noted that this situation is presenting us with a very unique opportunity to create a wellbeing and mental health management for our industry.
-
- 10 ways to build resilience
- Building professional resilience: A quick guide
- Building Resilience: Keep things in perspective
- Building Resilience: Take care of yourself
- Building Resilience: Change is a part of life
- Building Resilience: Move toward your goals
- Building Resilience: Look for opportunities for self-discovery
- Building Resilience: Nurture a positive view of yourself
- Building Resilience: Taking Decisive Action
- Building Resilience: Dealing with a crisis
- Building Resilience: Maintaining a hopeful outlook
- Building Resilience: Making connections
- Steps toward good mental health
- Understanding Fatigue: Why we get tired and what can we do about it?
- Understanding Fatigue: Why good sleep is important
- Understanding Fatigue: How body clock can make or break our health
- Understanding Fatigue: Why time awake needs control
- Understanding Fatigue: How to avoid jet lag
- Understanding Fatigue: Why workload is an increasing concern
- Understanding Fatigue: Don’t let stress run your life
- Understanding Fatigue: Making a healthy lifestyle part of our day-to-day lives
- Understanding Fatigue: Dealing with individual differences
- Building Resilience: How to develop a fatigue reporting culture
- Building Resilience: How to balance work and task demands
- Building Resilience: Mental health tips for seafarers in need
- Building Resilience: How to create a positive coaching style of management
- Building Resilience: Fostering empathy towards mental health issues
- Building Resilience: Steps towards a wellbeing & mental health management system
- Building Resilience: Keep an eye open for people with depression
Overall, a multi-level intervention is needed to build awareness on multiple levels in which management should be involved as well. Also, we need to debunk some myths around seafarers and understand wellbeing and mental health from different cultural perspectives.
7 key issues in building a wellbeing and mental health management system
#1 Consider it as a holistic system
As an industry we should strive to understand wellbeing as being complex and multi-dimensional
#2 Collaboration is vital
Maritime stakeholders need to join forces to identify and address wellbeing challenges
#3 Maintain a continuous approach
The system needs to provide continuity of care, doing the basics right
#4 Spread the message across
Multi-level awareness should be a first goal
#5 Debunk any myths
There should be emphasis on distinguishing myths from facts
#6 Take culture into consideration
Harnessing collective knowledge is important
#7 Acknowledge family relationships
One of the cornerstones of positive health
