HIGH TIME FOR MIND-BLOWING DECISIONS
A mental-health survey of crew reveals some harsh realities about coping with pressures on board. We speak to a clinical psychologist and a recruitment expert about the findings – and what steps they would like to see to address this endemic problem.
Crew welfare and mental health is slowly gaining the attention it deserves from the super yacht sector. The Covid pandemic, and now potentially the ramifications of crew caught up in the Ukraine sanctions while working on affected vessels, have forced the industry to focus even more on the lived experience of those on board. There’s been an increasing number of comprehensive studies, surveys and data to give a voice to crew who face these issues.
In partnership with Mental Health Support Solutions (MHSS), Quay Crew has produced a report based on a mentalhealth survey with crew. With more than 1,000 anonymous respondents from over 50 countries, the highly statistically significant report makes for stark reading. It’s a prescient overview of the mental health of crew.
The industry is rife with anecdotal evidence, and while this has served a purpose to get the conversation going, it’s time for data to start affecting real change.
The Superyacht Group spoke exclusively with Charles Watkins, founder and clinical psychologist at Mental Health Support Solutions, and Tim Clarke, director at Quay Crew, about the report and the underpinnings of its conclusions.
“Eighty-nine per cent of crew have never received any mental-health training of any description, at any point in their yachting career. So that’s a fairly damning statistic,” says Clarke.
This headline statistic is hard to balance with the narrative from management companies around the extensive application of mental-health support services. Likewise, the survey highlights that 62 per cent of crew claim to be unaware of any policies or practices in place to address mental-health issues.
While anecdotal evidence suggests that the dialogue is changing and the industry is becoming more open and inclusive, these statistics highlight a disparity. I’m sure that if we canvassed the top 10 management companies, all would provide an extensive list of mental-health practices that they have implemented, at least in theory. Equally, I’m sure that the crew who responded to these questions are not lying or ignoring these services.
Drawing on his experience in the commercial shipping sector, Watkins
points out that ‘support’ is a matter of the culture on board, and feeling supported is about more than just having a phone line to call. “The leadership defines the culture on board,” says Watkins. “If it’s a culture of care and empathy and compassion, you can almost always see that the captain is very strongly an ambassador for that behaviour.”
When speaking about the underlying causes of on-board fatigue in the superyacht industry, Watkins highlights the layered effect of the culture on board. “The most significant factor, at 62 per cent, that contributes to negative mental health is burnout fatigue, but crew tension from either harassment, bullying [or] some form of abuse is 59 per cent. The higher the ranking of the individual, the more potential to impart stress on other people, and so this is very strongly linked to leadership.”
Another critical statistic that paints a stark picture is that 22 per cent of female respondents label their mental health as ‘poor’ to ‘extremely poor’, along with eight per cent of male respondents. A dismissive narrative that often accompanies mental-health discussions is that it’s purely a young ‘greenie’ issue. But with almost two-thirds of respondents being over 30, this report does not support that assertion.
Not having an effective channel to talk about such issues openly compounds things further. It’s again unsurprising that 37 per cent disagree or strongly disagree with the sentiment that they feel comfortable going to their head of department with mental-health issues. This is a daunting prospect at the best of times in any industry. As is highlighted in the report, only five per cent of crew would feel comfortable calling a 24/7 shoreside support network.
Management companies, recruiters and captains regularly complain about a skill shortage and a lack of quality crew. If crew were better supported by a positive work culture, giving them additional time off and implementing transparent mental-health training and policies, they would be in a much stronger position to get through challenging seasons and situations. This would result in more ‘quality’ crew being available.
Tellingly, 59 per cent strongly agree or agree that drug and alcohol misuse contribute to the mental-health issues of those on board, although fewer than 20 per cent see it as an issue for themselves. Clarke explains, “So there’s a massive conflict there, the attitude being ‘I can get drunk all weekend and it doesn’t affect me, but it does affect others’.
“We’ve discussed this before but, sadly, yachting has a significant drug and alcohol problem. More rigorous drug testing would certainly reduce drug abuse on board. I also think many yachts could look at their alcohol and drinking policies too. I believe those two steps would make a marked difference to the prevalence of mental-health issues on board.”
Reality TV doesn’t help the image of yachting, nor do yachties sometimes. But the symptoms of substance abuse and depression manifest themselves in many ways. Many crews drink excessively as a release from the stress of a high-pressure job, as is also the case in other industries. But the difference is that we don’t all wake up at the office. Every day. For five consecutive months. Imagine the anxiety that descends on a normal office the morning after the Christmas party, and then envision repeating that until summer.
The report is necessary reading for everyone and can be read in its entirety on SuperyachtNews which will follow up with Clarke, Watkins and the teams at Quay Crew and MHSS about their next
steps to address the issues starkly highlighted in the report, which will add to the welcome data stream that is coming from various industry stakeholders, helping with the transition from stories, to questions, to data and then action for this critical issue.
The STCW course doesn’t cover these issues in five days, nor does the officer training have a module that addresses the complexities. This system doesn’t have a high tolerance for added stress points such as Covid, and the findings of the report show there are systemic issues.
There’s no magic bullet, but as Watkins reinforces, “In terms of mental-health treatment, the key consideration is what is the culture that you have on board? This sets the platform for how the crew are going to respond. Is it a frightening culture or does the culture encourage the sharing of issues and challenges?
“It’s vital to have someone contactable who is responsible for resolving crew conflict, especially when it comes to difficulties with superiors. There should always be a confidential avenue of communication.”
The culture, as Watkins explains, is the root cause and also the most multifaceted issue for a yacht to embrace. “Implementation of systems and appointing personnel that have certain responsibilities who can then deal with these issues is important, otherwise we tend to see them get lost in the day-to-day operations of a busy yacht. Has it been communicated from the leadership group through the entire crew? Do people know that it’s available? It must be a lived experience on board, not just checking a box.
“What I mean by lived experiences is making mental health part of the weekly meetings, having the HODs, the master and management start the process and lead the discussion.”
The often-quoted stumbling block is the time pressure that busy yachts are under. The many hats that crew wear and the broad range of responsibilities can lead to important issues being lost in the static. Therefore, the ambulance, in the case of mental health, can be left firmly where we parked it – at the bottom of the cliff. But we can’t hide behind time constraints.
Watkins elaborates, “You can find the time, let’s be honest. There are always ways to streamline the process and do it in a more timely fashion. Of course, many boats are very busy and they’re under stress. But it depends on how this is communicated properly and how the culture develops within the sensitivity of being under stress. Is it being it supported or not?”
Clarke agrees. “Drawing the mentalhealth conversation and treatment into the sphere of the long list of standards that support an efficient yacht is a key step,” he says. “In theory, on a wellmanaged yacht, all aspects of safety and ISM management are recorded and evaluated.
“I think that if a yacht is managed, mental health should be a part of this whereby the management company could implement easily followable processes and procedures whereby mental health is addressed on a fairly regular basis.
“A really basic example is one where every yacht should have regular crew appraisals, with crew happiness and mental health addressed as part of this appraisal. This should happen at least every six months, ideally once a quarter. There are many more boats that have the capacity to manage these issues in far greater depth than they currently are. This should be more than just a sit-down chat with the captain, especially if the captain is the issue. In
the corporate and commercial shipping world, there would be a document that is filled out, covering a variety of things, mainly professionally related, and this could also easily include a section with relevant questions about wellness and mental health.”
Clarke continues, “That would be a big step in the right direction and, of course, reiterating this via one to ones: ‘the door is always open’, ‘there is support here’, ‘you can speak to me’ or you speak directly to the HOD or the third-party mental-health provider.”
The culture on board and mental health of the crew who operate within it is linked to the ‘fit’ of the crew. A highly reductive word, ‘fit’ hides the hard work and practical, rational decisions and systems that can be implemented to ensure the culture on board works for the owners, crew and management. Therefore, as Clarke explains, much of this can start with the interview process.
“The culture on board and the relationship with the crew starts from the very first interview,” says Clarke. “Yachts need a solid recruitment process that is followed consistently. With eight different heads of department on large yachts, you will have eight different approaches to interviewing.”
The honesty and transparency that can drive the culture operate both ways, and it’s not just on the crew to ensure that they are the right ‘fit’. “One of the things I’m advising clients at the moment is that there should be an expectations document which all prospective crew get,” adds Clarke. “And this is what we expect from you in terms of behaviour, and likewise this is what the yacht will offer you. Yachts should have a mission statement, addressing the shared cultural values and desirable behavioural traits you want on board while highlighting this is a genuinely supportive environment.”
Watkins stresses, “[You can] shape that culture by doing webinars, doing workshops, communicating it daily, weekly so people find the time to finally change their mind about these issues. Crew can actually get themselves into a role or a position on board where they think, ‘OK, this is a safe place for me to share my thoughts, my feelings and my issues’. And remember, this is a stepby-step process. It’s not going to be a miracle overnight.”
Once again, the idiosyncrasies of the yachting lived experience can give the impression that we’re operating in a vacuum, but mental-health recognition and resolution, at a corporate level, is well documented. Therefore, as Clarke sees it, the industry should be learning and adapting from other fields.
“Developing an Employer Value Proposition, as with many other fields, is a great addition,” says Clarke. “An EVP helps communicate what is expected and what environment a crewmember will be entering. A really basic, easy one, which I’d recommend to a lot of yachts, is having a personal trainer or someone with a real interest in fitness on board who can lead regular morning PT sessions when the schedule allows. This has so many benefits for the crew and indeed the yacht owner.”
Clarke concludes, “I think we need more leadership training. It’s something which is vital to touch upon as well, and which underpins a lot of the conversation. There is an idea that when you get to captain level or HOD, for example, this is the point where you’ve achieved your functional limit, you have made it whereas, actually, all of us could probably be better leaders within the workplace.” JH
“Crew can actually get themselves into a role or a position on board where they think, ‘OK, this is a safe place for me to share my thoughts, my feelings and my issues’. And remember, this is a step-by-step process. It’s not going to be a miracle overnight.”
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?
VISIT SUPERYACHTNEWS.COM AND SEARCH ‘MENTAL HEALTH’