News: Supporting and celebrating seafarers through the festive season

Under the hashtag #SeafarersDeliveringChristmas, the shipping industry has come together to develop a range of initiatives to show our appreciation and support to seafarers, who continue to deliver good across the globe, under unprecedented, difficult circumstances. 

Seafarer Wellbeing has been a focal topic for Standard Club's Loss Prevention team in recent years, even more so during this pandemic. As we approach the festive season, we take this opportunity to highlight the importance of mental health education, awareness, and the support available for seafarers and their families, whether they are at sea or on shore.

Support helplines

International and regional helplines are available for seafarers wishing to talk to someone wherever they are in the world. Some of which are detailed below.

SeafarerHelp	24/7 multilingual and confidential helpline for seafarers’ and their families - emotional support and practical help
Nautilus 24/7	24/7 multilingual help available to Nautilus members
NUSI Sahara	24/7 psychological support for Indian seafarers and their family
AMOSUP	24/7 psychological support for Filipino seafarers and their family +63 2 3310 6641 +63 2 8527 8116 to 20 (local2061)
SAIL	British seafarers – help with benefits, debt and housing
Seafarer Support	Central source of information on maritime charities support for seafarers and their families
Seafarer Hospital Society	24/7 online confidential advice and support service for all working and retired seafarers and families  for seafarers in the UK
Mission to Seafarers Chat to a Chaplain	24/7 MtS & ICMA chaplains available to talk
Sailors Society Wellness at Sea	Emergency COVID-19 helpline
Sailors Society India	Helpline for Indian seafarers and their families
DSM.care	24/7 online service to chat with a DSM chaplain
Danish Seaman's Church	Chaplains available for a chat
Stella Maris	To call Catholic chaplains worldwide for a chat

A round-up of our recent work focused on seafarer wellbeing is offered below, but can also be found on our dedicated Seafarer Wellbeing page.

Publications

Standard Safety: Seafarer Wellbeing (October 2018) – a special edition Standard Safety publication was released, focusing on seafarer wellbeing as a holistic concept combining physical, mental and social wellbeing. This publication offers advice, key knowledge and tips to look after your wellbeing, and is perhaps as relevent today as it was when released.

Initiatives

1. Seafarer Wellbeing Poster Campaign
Four pairs of posters focus on the topics considered to have the biggest impact on seafarer wellbeing – healthy eating, fitness, mental wellbeing, and socialisation. Designed to grace the walls onboard ships, print and share with your crew and access more information by scanning the QR code.

2. Health and Wellbeing sponsor of The Sea Newspaper
As part of our continued efforts to promote seafarer wellbeing and to reach out to seafarers directly, the club is the proud sponsor of The Mission to Seafarer’s The Sea newspaper.

3. Commitment to Health Echoes section of Offing Echoes magazine
Aligning with the club’s vision of doing our part for the maritime industry in generating awareness on the importance of seafarer wellbeing is Offing Echoes, a magazine aimed at Indian marine cadets.

Webinars

We recently hosted a webinar series focused on seafarer wellbeing in which we, alongside ISWAN, the Mission to Seafarers, and Captain Artur Olbromski, discussed issues seafarers and the maritime industry as a whole are currently facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sharing expereinces and supportive advice. Recordings of our 'Seafarer Wellbeing series' are available to watch on our Youtube Channel.

Category: Loss Prevention