Mental Health Support Solutions (MHSS) will offer psychological help to yacht crew placed by Quay Crew, after agreeing to partner with the superyacht recruitment agency.

Yacht crew will have access to trained psychologists and a 24/7 mental health hotline provided by MHSS, which supports the maritime industry.

MHSS and Quay Crew plan to run free educational webinars and content for management, Captains and Heads of Departments (HODs), to help mariners with their mental health. The online events will focus on common causes of stress, anxiety and depression, including how to deal with or avoid burnout, conflict resolution, bullying and harassment and substance abuse.

“Poor mental health is not just debilitating and often traumatising to the individual, but it can affect everyone onboard, from overall morale to productivity,” said Christian Ayerst, CEO of MHSS.

“The past 18 months have only highlighted to us how significant mental health issues at sea can be, largely due to long hours and isolation from family and friends, so it’s fantastic to be supported by Quay Crew, a company with such a strong foothold in the superyacht sector.

“We’re excited to work on a raft of projects that will raise awareness and enhance mental health support services to crew worldwide.”

As part of their tie-up, MHSS and Quay Crew have launched an industry-specific survey to gather data that aims to highlight the most critical mental health concerns of crew.

Tim Clarke, Director at Quay Crew, said: “Anecdotal evidence from conversations with Captains, HODs and hundreds of superyacht crew has highlighted just how many people onboard suffer with poor mental health. So, we are delighted to be able to give our placed crew access to this service, delivered by qualified psychologists.

“However, our commitment is just a drop in the ocean and as a sector, we are lagging way behind on the support for our crew. We must do more to ensure they have access to the help they need.

“We will work with MHSS to uncover critical mental health data from the industry and encourage yacht owners, management companies and Captains to see the benefits of making support services available to all crew.”

Findings from the recently launched crew mental health survey are due to be published later this year.