The Maritime Charities Group, a coalition of 10 major maritime charities, has joined forces with the Merchant Navy Training Board to publish a good practice guide to designing a training course for seafarers on mental health and wellbeing awareness. Written by experts from the maritime and education sectors in response to the growing mental health crisis amongst seafarers, the new Seafarers’ Mental Health Awareness and Wellbeing Training Standard was launched during Seafarers Awareness Week.

“Mental health awareness training is needed now more than ever and there are many reputable providers offering really good training courses,” says the guide’s author, Master Mariner and academic, Dr Chris Haughton. “But the majority of those courses are generic and really don’t address the specific issues facing seafarers. If you’re working at sea, you need a course that’s much more targeted otherwise it just won’t be relevant. That’s why we’ve developed the standard, setting out clearly what a good training course should cover.”

Aimed at prospective buyers of training courses as well as potential participants, the standard sets a benchmark for training that aims to develop a keen awareness and appreciation of mental health and wellbeing amongst all types of seafarers, as well as those with an interest in seafaring. It includes course content, delivery and the qualification requirements of course facilitators.

MCG member, the Seafarers Hospital Society, took a leading role in the work. The society was concerned about the proliferation of mental health awareness training courses of varying quality that did not address the specific issues faced by seafarers due to the nature of their work. The society approached the MCG for help in bringing together a wide range of stakeholders to agree a way forward and the standard was the result.

“We are delighted to be working with the MCG to make this standard available,” says Bob Sanguinetti, CEO of the UK Chamber of Shipping. “Whilst it may not be mandatory, it is certainly advisory and we would encourage all ship owners and training providers to adopt it. But the crew have an important role to play here too. Everyone who signs up to a training course on mental health and wellbeing awareness needs to look for the MCG and MNTB logos. That’s the only way they can be assured the course will meet their specific needs and be delivered by someone who understands the environment they work in.”