News & articles

We are delighted to share that SeafarerHelp and YachtCrewHelp have been awarded the Helplines Standard for the next three years by demonstrating a high-quality service and best practice for service users and staff.

Awarded by the UK membership organisation Helplines Partnership, the Helplines Standard identifies the practices and operations that enable an organisation to deliver a helpline service that is consistent, relevant to the needs of its service users and stakeholders, and effective in what it is trying to achieve. Certification is a recognition of excellence and best practice in the helpline sector.

SeafarerHelp and YachtCrewHelp are ISWAN’s free, confidential, multilingual helplines for seafarers and their families around the world. Both helplines offer emotional, wellbeing and practical support and are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In its assessment report, Helplines Partnership highlighted that ISWAN’s key strengths included: its helpline guidelines, especially around suicidal callers; bringing clinical supervision in-house; and the dedication and professionalism of the team.

This is the third consecutive time since 2019 that SeafarerHelp has been accredited after meeting the high standards of the Helplines Standard assessment, and the first time that the newer YachtCrewHelp has been assessed.

ISWAN’s Helplines Manager Chester Quintal said:

‘Achieving this accreditation is a true reflection of the hard work and care our team puts into our work supporting seafarers and their families. We are incredibly proud that the high-quality service we provide has been recognised for both of our core helplines, and we are committed to continuously improving our service to provide the best possible support to crew and their loved ones.’

Seafarers and their families can access support at any time on ISWAN’s website at www.iswan.org.uk/get-support.