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Boosting Mental Fitness, Welfare and Resilient Leadership in Challenging Environments
- Sean Noonan
- May 1
- 10 min read
Updated: May 13
Challenges
Seafarers must deal with many challenges to their welfare and mental fitness, and those forces have increased in recent years. Since the pandemic of 2020 the stress levels at sea and ashore have intensified. At the extreme end of this are suicidal thoughts.
As an inspector, I visit around fifty ships a year and in the last three years, I have been on board three ships where there had been recent suicides. That is not a good statistic. So, how can we recognise and alleviate this over-stress within our people?
According to the latest study from the International Maritime Health journal, an estimated 5.9% of deaths at sea are connected to suicide. When ‘suspicious’ deaths were included, the percentage increased to 18.3%. We must find better ways to help seafarers.
What is needed is improved resilience, enlightened leadership, better mental fitness and to give all seafarers the tools to help identify and reduce their psychological disablers, such as anxiety and depression. The ultimate tool for this is with Resilient Leadership development.
Though we are addressing things in terms of seafarers these principles will apply to any person, group of people, or organisation.
Challenges that seafarers (people) face:
Being away from family and home for long periods
Commercial pressures and time constraints
Working in an environment open to the most dangerous aspects of nature
The threat of geopolitical influences
Criminalisation from shore authorities
Piracy – often with violence
No shore leave allowed or possible with short intense turnarounds in port
Increasing workloads
Increasing external governance and erosion of self-esteem
Lack of recognition for all the good seafarers provide for the world’s economy
Connection to families ashore with limited ability to respond if they are in crisis
These factors have grown worse in recent years, such as with paranoia from shore authorities often meaning no shore leave, even if the seafarers have time for a shore visit in their intense port turnarounds.
From the World Maritime University’s data for the seafarer happiness index, we can see the factors which cause the most concern are shore leave, workload and welfare.
Interestingly, its team relationships (interactions) and connectivity that have helped improve the overall index rating.
Mental fitness spirals downwards when we feel isolated, disconnected, disenfranchised or traumatised.
This could come from a mixture of work situations and home situations, such as listed above, as we are not split entities of “home” and “work”. Who We Are is of our whole selves.
The opposite of feeling isolated and disenfranchised, helpless and hopeless, is to feel Psychologically Safe. This means we trust in the people around us. This is achieved when our leaders and managers positively and knowledgeably optimise the organisational culture based on trust and respect. Ensuring everyone feels safe to raise any concerns. That these concerns will be listened to without defence or judgement and with respect (openness and support) no matter what we share about how we are feeling.
In a Psychologically Safe culture, it is everyone’s responsibility to notice and engage with the people around us.
One of the core concepts of the Resilient Leaders Elements is that in fact, everyone leads. Everyone and anyone can step up and be empowered – the opposite of disenfranchisement.
It is everyone’s responsibility to be aware of what is happening around us. This includes asking the following:
How would we know when a colleague begins to subtly change their behaviours in response to feeling any of the above?
How would we recognise it in ourselves?
It is this level of awareness of subtle symptoms that begins to positively impact mental fitness and can have a big influence on things like suicidal thoughts but also general team effectiveness and productivity. Learning this level of awareness is possible with the right training, but also just opening our general awareness can have a big impact.
It is worth noting that should a person’s mental health decline and behavioural changes are related to trauma; it is essential these are treated by a trauma specialist. Trauma can change the way our brain functions and therefore the right treatment is needed to right this. Only then can our behaviours and emotions return to normal.
Initial solutions
When we apply the human factor influences at play in seafarers’ lives, we gain a better understanding of where to take action.
One aspect is our focus, where we place our conscious thoughts. The way the conscious and subconscious work together is a powerful force in everyone’s lives.
Focussing only on hazards and where things are going wrong will empower our subconscious to bring more of this into play. This is obviously not a desirable outcome.
Conversely, if we empower our subconscious to help us by focusing on the safeguards, the things we want more of, then it will add to our positive state of mind enhancing our welfare.
Changes we may notice as a person’s mental health declines may include:
Changes in engagement or stepping back from things
Facial expressions may change
Body language may change including eye movements when talking to others indicating levels of dissociation
Tone of voice may subtly change
On one of the ships I visited where there had been a suicide, another officer had been friends with the person who had taken their own life. They had known each other since primary school.
He asked me, “How did I not see this coming? Why didn’t they say something? How can we prevent this happening again?”
“Did your friend smile?”
“Yes…but not with his eyes.”
“That is a sign. If someone is unable to smile fully of themselves, they may be in trouble. If you find anyone else like this, ask them how they feel and then listen with care, and with no judgement or intent to solve any issues. People just need to feel that they are being listened to.”
Another aspect of human factors and how indicators show us how our colleagues are, is their smiles. We all deserve to be happy in our working as well as our home lives. Smiles are an important indicator of our state of mind. Just be careful that those smiles are genuine, they must include the eyes. Internal rather than external smiles.
One workshop we run during seminars is:
“What makes you smile and brings you joy?”
Ask the question of your team and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to improve how the team feels and interacts.
We must also be intentional with the words we use each day. Our language and our state of mind will influence ourselves and those around us.
Our subconscious drivers do not register negatives. If I was to ask you, don’t think of a pink elephant, then what are you now thinking about?
Equally when I engaged in extreme sports such as off-piste skiing, when passing through an area of trees we focused only on the clear path between them. The moment our focus switched to those trees (the hazards) then bang, we hit one. Especially at speed.
For better outcomes each day we need to be intentional with our words (language), these influence our thoughts.
Our thoughts set our state of mind
Our state of mind governs our choices
Our choices determine our habits
Our habits will dictate our outcomes
Be intentional, be positive, and we will improve not only the quality of our own lives but also of those around us.
I have heard many managers tell me they have an open-door policy. “My team are free to walk in and talk to me at any time.” However, this will only happen if the team feel safe and trust their managers (leaders). A much better way for leaders (managers) to approach team trust is for them to go to their team members workplaces and ask them two questions.
“What is working well for you?”
What can we do to make things better?”
These two questions focus us on where things are going well and then look for suggestions for improvement. They are powerful tools. Why go to the team members' workplace to ask them? It shows respect, and the people are more comfortable and therefore more likely to share their inner thoughts and suggestions.
Enhancing solutions with Resilient Leadership Development
To gain more we need to employ the aspects of resilient leadership. The Resilient Leaders Elements (RLE™) community has defined a concise and precise framework, and toolbox that holistically encapsulates all the factors involved in both leadership and resilience enablement.
How do we use the RLE™ framework to understand the challenges of welfare and wellbeing, and help align our clarity of direction, our way forward?
On its highest level the RLE™ system brings our “who we are and what we do” into focus. This highlights our strengths and our areas for development. From this perspective we can then apply the RLE™ framework to gain more empathy and allow us to empower ourselves more effectively.
In terms of the Elements and the Facets:
Awareness of our self, others and the environment is key to knowing when we and others are working at our best and when we are not. If we understand each other’s and our own strengths, and how our natural styles affect our work and the work of those around us, we can maximise team effectiveness. We also maximise everyone’s psychological safety (welfare).
Clarity of Direction ensures we are all working towards the same goals and have the same intent. We understand how what we are doing fits in with the bigger picture, which is a key pinnacle of psychological health and mental fitness.
Leadership Presence is all about our core values, how we look at and interact with the world around us. If we are intentional in our authenticity, always look to serving others (without neglecting ourselves) then we show those around us that we mean and do what we say.
Resilient Decision Making comes from those other Elements and Facets. When we are aware of the key skills of our people and their knowledge base – and listen to them, are aware of our own strengths and weaknesses, have clarity of direction of what we want to achieve and can communicate this clearly, then we know that our Decision Making is resilient.
When we increase our awareness of these challenges, this gives us the necessary empathy to define our situation. Combining this improved awareness with a clearer focus on what we need to achieve gives us a way forward. I have found that grounding ourselves with a better understanding of who we are to enhance what we do will always bring us in line with our own values and drives.
With the Resilient Leaders Elements engines, we have the values exercise, which often surprises those who go through it with the accuracy of how they measure happiness and success in life.
When helping organisational culture changes in companies, we work with renowned Resilience Psychologist, Alison Stratford. Alison has helped me deal with the effects of a trauma that affected me during my seagoing career.
One time during a ship-to-ship transferring operation, the tanker next to our vessel exploded. Part of that other ship was blown clear into the air and came crashing down on us, setting us alight. I needed to make some hard and fast decisions and go outside of the normal procedures to keep everyone safe and alive. My wife was also on board our ship.
We all survived, and the complex situation was handled without major consequences. This was because our team working together, trusting each and every one of us to do our best. This combined with good training and due diligence allowed us to deal with the chaotic challenges we faced that night. However, I personally was affected by a trauma that night which lived silently within me for twenty years. It wasn’t until I underwent my Resilient Leadership journey that this was uncovered, and I was able to move forward.
The RLE™ consultancy community addresses the alignment between Who we Are with What we Do for everyone. This vital aspect of mental fitness means a person feels they can fully show up with their unique perspective and be appreciated.
To bring the best out of our people we also must instil an appropriate measure of autonomy within their duties. When we nurture this engagement within our teams, we improve the perspective for everyone, increasing awareness overall. This in turn will lead to a better understanding of ourselves, our team and the organisation within which we live, strive and survive.
Improving awareness is especially important where safety is concerned. The better the situational awareness the more chance we have of being safe. In addition, if everyone feels able to step forward and lead when needed, the workplace will be a safer and happier place to be.
Another aspect is to ensure how we support each other within the workplace. When we are more aware of each other, what our unique skills sets are and when we each go from healthy pressure to excessive stress, we can begin to show up as human beings for each other.
Ultimately it's about the team and how our culture is set up.
The easiest way to understand and measure whether a team is working or not, is by the level of trust that lives in the team. Trust is the lifeblood of every team. Our actions should empower that trust and any actions that take away trust are our learning opportunities.
Leadership must be deliberate, professional and evident. Good leadership will empower the team ensure and enhance everyone’s mental fitness and welfare; poor leadership will disable the team in all aspects.
In conclusion
It’s all about the people.
Optimise awareness - Keep an eye on the smiles, ask how people feel, engage people with respect so they know they are valued and included.
Build and nurture trust - Each person brings their own unique skill set and ways of working to their role. When we embrace this, people feel psychologically safe enough to raise concerns, build better ways of working and are more psychologically resilient.
Ensure leadership is deliberate and professional - Go to the team’s workplace and ask them the two questions, “What’s working well and what could be better?”
Work on everyone’s resilient leadership development - The RLE™ framework and the habits of resilient leadership will empower and improve everyone within any organisation.
The output from these principles and actions will allow us all to boost our mental fitness, bring feelings of well-being which increases our welfare, giving us the skills to be more resilient and better leaders for the future.
Meet the authors:
Captain Sean Noonan - Safety Management Consultant
Sean joined the merchant navy as a teenager and spent the next 20 years at sea, not all in one sitting, until he was a Captain. Passionate about improving safety in the marine industry, since 2002 Sean has run his own company specialising in safety, particularly with inspections, audits, professional witness work, optimising safety management systems and guiding culture change projects.
Alison Stratford - Resilience Psychologist
After a decade in the corporate sector, Alison is trained in CBT, EMDR and Psychodynamic Hypnotherapy. She focuses on supporting people with stress, burnout, anxiety and trauma. Her extensive experience leads to unique ways of focusing on not only recovery but also building psychological resilience, even in difficult circumstances.
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