Contributed by Nebojsa Nikolic
The International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) launched its Yacht Crew Help service in November 2020, in order to provide accessible, specialised support to help those working in the yachting industry to cope with
the unique challenges of life at sea. Yacht Crew Help is a free, multilingual, 24/7/365 service operated by a team of helpline
officers with broad-ranging experience of providing emotional support and practical guidance. Demand for the service has
continued to grow, with Yacht Crew Help supporting 300 crew members from at least 42 different nationalities in 2022,
up by 31.0% year-on-year.
Mental health difficulties were the most frequently raised issue, accounting for 16.6% of all issues raised and for 19.1%
of those raised by women. Yacht crew who contacted the helpline frequently talked about the impact on their mental health
of long working hours, lack of sleep, the impact of alcohol or drugs onboard or difficulty fitting into the crew culture.
However, ISWAN’s helpline data suggests that experiences of abuse, bullying, harassment or discrimination (ABHD) are
collectively the issue that has the greatest impact on the mental health of yacht crew. Almost a quarter (24.3%) of yacht
crew who contacted Yacht Crew Help in 2022 in relation to mental health challenges also raised an experience of some
form of abuse. Overall, experiences of ABHD accounted for 9.2% of all issues raised, in comparison to 3.0% of issues raised
to SeafarerHelp, ISWAN’s long-established helpline for all seafarers across the maritime sector and their families. Contacts
relating to ABHD increased by 81.3% on the 2021 level.
Amongst women, experiences of abuse accounted for 13.5% of issues raised to Yacht Crew Help, as opposed to 5.8%
of issues raised by men. In many cases, yacht crew contacted the helpline for support to cope with bullying, aggression
and at times assault, frequently by more senior crew members. Amongst women yacht crew, half of all ABHD-related contacts
involved sexual abuse or harassment.
A year in data of Yacht Crew Help 2022 can be downloaded at: