News & articles

As it seeks funding to continue offering vital support, the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) highlights that yacht crew are reporting higher levels of mental health difficulties and experiences of abuse, bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence than seafarers working in other maritime industries.

ISWAN’s YachtCrewHelp service was launched in November 2020 in response to the lack of accessible, specialised support available to crew working in the yachting industry. Building on ISWAN’s expertise from operating SeafarerHelp, ISWAN’s long-established helpline for the maritime sector, YachtCrewHelp is a free, confidential, multilingual helpline available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, providing emotional, wellbeing and practical support to yacht crew of any nationality.

Awareness of YachtCrewHelp is growing, with the number of calls and messages (contacts) to the helpline in 2023 increasing by 34.3% on the 2022 level and 60.5% on the 2021 level. The service is used both by crew worldwide – crew members of 46 different nationalities contacted YachtCrewHelp in 2023 – and by their families.

Data from ISWAN’s newly released YachtCrewHelp 2023 Annual Review indicates that yacht crew were more likely to contact ISWAN in relation to mental health concerns or experiences of abuse, bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence (ABHDV) than seafarers working in other maritime industries, particularly merchant shipping. In 2023, the proportion of contacts relating to ABHDV on YachtCrewHelp was more than double the level received by SeafarerHelp, accounting for 7.3% of all issues raised compared to 3.1% on SeafarerHelp. Women were more than five times more likely to report an experience of ABHDV to YachtCrewHelp than men (14.2% of issues raised by women compared to 2.7% among men).

Tim Clarke, Director at Quay Crew, which has conducted surveys of crew mental health in the superyacht industry, said:

‘Bullying and harassment is certainly increasing, as revealed in our own survey, which reported a 10% increase since 2022. Compared to ISWAN data, we found it far more prevalent than in just 7.3% of cases – stated by almost a quarter of crew as contributing to their poor mental health onboard. In our survey, this impacted twice as many female crew, and over a third of interior crew. It’s great to see that crew are feeling more confident to pick up the phone and use helpline services such as those provided by ISWAN. It demonstrates an increased awareness and reduced stigma around talking openly about issues and seeking help.’

Another key trend reported in the annual review is a 13.5% year-on-year increase in contacts relating to mental health, with the proportion of issues relating to mental health almost four times higher on YachtCrewHelp compared to SeafarerHelp (15.3% of all issues raised compared to 4.0%). ISWAN’s data consistently finds that experiencing ABHDV is a leading factor in mental health difficulties among seafarers across its helplines.

ISWAN suggests that a number of factors may contribute to the differences in issues reported by these industries, including a relative lack of HR structures, support services and union coverage available to yacht crew compared to merchant shipping.

The YachtCrewHelp 2023 Annual Review also reports a 116.7% year-on-year increase in contacts from those seeking work in yachting – the most common reason for crew to contact YachtCrewHelp in 2023 – indicating the challenges that green crew in particular experience in finding secure employment. In 2023, ISWAN worked in partnership with other yachting industry stakeholders to develop guidance on safe job-seeking for crew looking for both paid and voluntary roles.

ISWAN’s Projects and Relationships Manager Georgia Allen said:

‘Through YachtCrewHelp, we have the opportunity to hear directly from crew about the challenges they are facing on a daily basis. As well as providing support to crew members on an individual level, we are able to share data and insights on the wider issues which need to be tackled by the yachting industry as a whole.

‘However, the heart of our service lies with the one-to-one support our helpline officers can offer to yacht crew and their families – for example, a crew member seeking emotional support and guidance after being sexually assaulted by a senior officer, a captain whose mental health was severely impacted by bullying from the yacht owners, or a mother concerned about a suspicious job offer her daughter received on social media (all these stories are shared in our annual review).

‘We cannot be there for these individuals without vital funding and support from the industry. The YachtCrewHelp service operates 24/7/365 and is currently at risk if we cannot secure the funding necessary to continue delivering the service without interruption. We have some fantastic and passionate sponsors, many of whom have supported YachtCrewHelp from the beginning, but more is needed. We encourage any companies or organisations who see the value in this service and want to secure its future to get in touch.’

Sarah Bayard, Lead Crew Operations USA at Y.CO, a key sponsor of ISWAN’s Welfare of Yacht Crew project, said:

‘Our experience in yacht management tells us that crew are the most important component of a yacht operation. A happy, healthy crew is a safe and effective crew, and we do all we can to promote positive onboard culture throughout our fleet. We are so proud to have supported YachtCrewHelp since its launch in 2021 and it is heartening to see the difference it has made so far. We encourage our industry colleagues to join us to ensure that this vital, free resource remains available to our most valuable assets, the crew.’

Will Faimatea, Founder and Director of Bond Technology Management, another key sponsor of ISWAN’s Welfare of Yacht Crew project and YachtCrewHelp steering group member, said:

‘I am pleased to be able to be part of YachtCrewHelp and helping it become a place where yacht crew can seek support in times of need. This service was not something that was available nor spoken about in my years as crew on a superyacht. I have seen through the analytics provided by ISWAN that the service is not only needed, but used by crew. I would like to encourage all company owners working within the yacht industry to support YachtCrewHelp with financial contributions to allow this service to support the crew within it.’

The YachtCrewHelp 2023 Annual Review can be downloaded here.

If you are interested in supporting or getting involved with ISWAN’s work to improve yacht crew welfare, please e-mail [email protected].