NAVIGATING AN INDUSTRY WIDE SOLUTION TO MENTAL HEALTH
Join us for a crucial discussion on the pressing issue of mental health in the yachting industry. Discover how leading welfare focus groups are uniting to address the challenges faced by 54% of individuals in our sector. Learn about the educational initiatives and tangible changes being implemented to foster a healthier, more supportive work environment.
Speakers
Sharing info on safety, connection and inclusion.
My bio:
I am an independent maritime multipotentialite who managed to change international maritime policy by creating a community. My greatest skills are to connect people, spark up valuable discussions, and solve problems together.
At the wheel of the Maritime Unity Community: a group of people who use their own influence, power, knowledge and intrinsic motivation to make the world a better place for all of us.
Currently I am hosting a podcast show called MARITIME UNITY on Yachting International Radio, where all kinds of different voices of the maritime sector are given a platform. Listen to the unified voice of humanity that diversity creates.
In my dayjob I am a Quality Safety Health and Environment Manager for a shipmanagement company.
My personality:
compassionate, radiant, joyful, creative, intuitive, curious, responsible, social and flexible. I love positive change initiatives and has a high level of moral ambition. My desire for connection and safety is what sparks my neurodiverse mind.
My background:
Serving as a dual-licensed maritime officer, I started my career by crossing the many oceans of our globe on large container vessels. Where I built up a firm basis of experience in the maritime sector, working in a diverse variety of work areas all over the world.
The humanitarian work that I did in the maritime sector is what makes me most proud, as it set in motion global change. By gathering a large circle of people we solved one of the most complex and hidden problems in the maritime sector: the absence of psychological and social safety.
As a UN delegate for a Flagstate at IMO, my job at the time focused on policy development adding a higher level of psychological safety in standards for education. The group on psychological safety to prevent bullying, unacceptable behavior and sexual abuse in the maritime sector initiated a change of mindset. Their proposals led to amendments to the STCW. Please find more about the work of this community in a recent article: “The people that actively imagined a better world” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/people-actively-imagined-better-world-eva-lianne-veldkamp-9zf9e
With the founders' background in organisational psychology and being an ex-seafarer herself, Karine, has proven to build more resilient, productive, and engaged teams, increasing crew retention onboard, and ultimately elevating yacht culture. The Crew Coach helps Superyacht Crew elevate their leadership skills through the GUEST IAMI accredited Advanced Leadership Course, master their mental health through online counselling, as well as provides an exclusive yacht crew online leadership membership for yachting professionals to continue ongoing professional training, access influential mentors and guest experts to aid their professional growth and development.
Karine has been awarded the Acrew Duty of Care Award and was a finalist for the 2022 Mentorship Award. She has been featured in The New Yorker Magazine, London Sunday Times and the Marie-Claire. She also serves on the PYA well-being committee.
Mel is Co- Founder of SEAS THE MIND, a training company dedicated to creating mentally healthy and resilient seafarers through mental health training. Mel worked as a chef on busy charter sailing yachts throughout her twenties. After years of back-to-back seasons she recognised a consistent void of discussion and external support to counteract isolation and harassment that those in the yachting community face.
Together with Emma Ross, their mission to address the mental health challenges faced by seafarers culminated with SEAS THE MIND’s inception just before COVID hit. Throughout the pandemic Mel worked as a policy advisor for the UK Chamber of Shipping specialising in Employment and Health & Safety to try and improve the quality of care seafarers were experiencing across the industry.
In 2022 she left this role to give birth to her son and to publish 'Behind Ocean Lines - The Invisible Price of Accommodating Luxury’ to raise awareness surrounding depression at sea and to share the pitfalls but also the magic being yacht crew.
Though her work at SEAS THE MIND, her goal is to support crew wholeheartedly and give them the tools to access a truly fulfilling, long-lasting career at sea.'
