LivingWorks is proud to be partnering with The Mission to Seafarers – who provide a range of help and support to millions of crew members who work at sea, including mental health and wellbeing resources – to ensure that the global maritime community has access to relevant and best practice suicide prevention skills training.
Wanting to create a community of suicide alert helpers within the maritime industry and break down the stigma toward thoughts of suicide, Mission to Seafarers has adapted the half-day LivingWorks safeTALK workshop with specialized vignettes to create a targeted training experience that empowers onshore and onboard personnel with the confidence to talk about suicide.
The training adaptation started back in August 2023, when Mission to Seafarers and LivingWorks spent two days with a film crew and twelve actors, led by Director James Cleave, recording the vignettes in Hull, UK.
The production was supervised by Executive Producers Thomas O’Hare, Programme Manager at the Mission to Seafarers, and Jenny Pickup, Lead Trainer at Livingworks.
“LivingWorks safeTALK is a fantastic course. The curriculum is clear, concise, and builds confidence in identifying options to provide life-affirming help,” says O’Hare. “The new maritime vignettes make the program even more accessible to the maritime industry, with scenes demonstrating how the learned skills can be used in different environments. Whether you’re a cadet in your first year of college, a seasoned Officer on board a vessel, or the loved one of a seafarer coping with a long-distance relationship, there is a scenario in safeTALK that addresses the thoughts and feelings in that moment.”
Following almost 12 months of planning and development, the adapted workshop was published in April 2024. The Mission to Seafarers aims to focus on training new trainers who will provide this course across the maritime industry. On June 14 and 15 there will be a safeTALK T4T in Hong Kong – the first to use the new vignettes. Later this month, there will be safeTALK offered in Singapore to the maritime industry on June 27th to commemorate International Seafarers Day.
The Mission to Seafarers will host a selection of funded, free to attend, safeTALK courses later in 2024. Private courses are available. For more information, please contact their training team at Safetalk@missiontoseafarers.org.
To learn more about LivingWorks’ gold-standard and evidence-based safeTALK program, visit our website page.
