Insignia Crew launches online crew resilience training

Crew training provider Insignia Crew has launched a new online crew resilience course to supplement its existing offering.

The purpose of the training is to help facilitate early identification of the symptoms of stress via a training concept which was originally developed and practiced within the Royal Marines and is now used by many industries. 

The course has been designed to allow crew to develop, not only a response to an incident, but their resilience prior to an incident. Crew will understand more about themselves and their responses, thus building their own resiliencies.

In a statement, Insignia Crew said, “Over recent years, there has been a surge in positive attitudes about the importance of physical and mental wellbeing. Many a celebrity has thrown their weight behind it, charities have been formed and industries are stepping up to the plate to support employees in the workplace, all of which is extremely good news as it is resulting in important changes being made for the better.

“Crew mental wellbeing has been covered at some of the large annual superyacht industry events where crew and industry figures have spoken about their own experiences. Psychological trauma and stress can of course happen to anyone but there are some professions which certainly have more exposure to them, and being a seafarer is one of those. 

"Unfortunately, crew can experience and are affected by trauma and stress, on board or ashore; from accidental death, accidents resulting in serious injury, suicide, assault, harassment, long working hours and isolation, to lack of rest - and up until recently many have suffered in silence due to the previous stigma attached to mental health. What we within the industry need to do now is offer support and solutions. We felt duty-bound and challenged to provide as such, which led us to deliver this robust response, providing a much needed course, for crew at all levels.” 

The crew resilience course is ‘proactive’ and ‘peer delivered’, featuring award-winning consultants who have all held accountable operational and academic roles (such as the UK Special Forces, Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Human Resource Specialists). These individuals are experienced in operating under pressure and challenging situations within varying environments worldwide and have much knowledge to draw upon, enabling them to coach people from different backgrounds and capabilities, understanding the value of a positive work culture, attitude and mindset.

The consultants were also involved in the PhD and Professional Doctorate research into developing it.

The course has been developed for all crew, at all levels. It is most effective if a yacht enrols as many crew on board as possible due to the very nature of the course being peer delivered and supported.

The online course includes several lessons which take around 8 hours to complete. They cover the nature of psychological trauma, management strategies, peer assessment (how to conduct them and then identify risk factors), leadership, self-care and wellbeing resources.

Insignia Crew suggests the course is completed over a period of around 2 weeks. Once finished, crew are invited to join one of its consultants live online who will deliver a summary and open a Q&A session.

Annalise Holme, director at Insignia Crew, said, “We are extremely proud to bring this online course to market. Crew deserve this much needed support to be extended to them. We’d like to see mental resilience training becoming the ‘norm’ within the industry and hope that it will one day be made mandatory”.

For more information, visit Insignia Crew. Sign up to our newsletter to get the best of Yachting Pages delivered direct to your inbox every month.