How can we tackle the mental health crisis?
Mental health is one of the biggest challenges the industry is facing.
It’s little wonder mental health in the industry has been under scrutiny. Even without COVID, the industry has something of a reputation for being exhausting and stressful.
It’s why we’ve written about mental health several times in the past few months, including our hard-hitting Time to act on mental health at sea, and why we are proud to be holding two events on this hugely important topic this May.
IMarEST Explores: Wellbeing Challenges in Maritime
12:30pm-2pm BST, 10 May
The IMarEST Explores event on wellbeing coincides with Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK.
We will have several expert panellists discussing wellbeing and mental health, including:
- Melanie White, Policy Advisor, UK Chamber of Shipping
- Pav Hart-Premkumar, Human Element Policy Specialist, Maritime & Coastguard Agency
- Dr Olivia Swift, Senior Programme Manager, Lloyd’s Register Foundation
- David Hammond, Chief Executive Officer, Human Rights at Sea
- Steven Jones, Head of Seafarers Happiness Index, Mission to Seafarers
- Dr Volkan Arslan, Senior Human Factors Consultant, Lloyd’s Register.
The IMarEST Explores event will be chaired by Captain Panos Stavrakakis FIMarEST Champion of IMarEST Mental Health and Wellbeing Initiative, and Head of Centre of Organisational Health & Wellbeing, Health & Safety Executive. Final details will be announced soon.
The IMarEST Explores series is open to the public and is a chance for important discussion amongst professionals who have real experience of the marine sector.
1st Global Conference for Seafarer Mental Health and Wellbeing
25-26 May
The conference will take a practical approach to improving seafarer mental health and wellbeing, looking at insights learned over the past year in particular, and trying to understand why there is still a stigma around it.
How can we create healthy workplaces for our seafarers – and have the policies in place to make it happen.
Captain Panos Stavrakakis FIMarEST Champion of the IMarEST Mental Health and Wellbeing Initiative explained: “We need to understand the extent of the problem, what is the impact on seafarers and their organisations – and in general across the industry.
“What are the causal factors and how can we start work to manage these risks? We need to gather science on it and build our evidence base. We have to help maritime employers and stakeholders understand that mental health and wellbeing in the workplace has an impact on their business. It is an organisational factor and we want to support them to seek solutions that can be mutually beneficial for the seafarers and their employers.”
There will be 12 speakers, covering everything from the silence of stigma, to learning lessons from COVID-19 and – importantly – how we can make it better.
