Mission to Seafarers joins fight against depression

Docklands’ Mission To Seafarers has joined forces with four other maritime-related organisations to help combat depression in seafarers.

The mission has united with the Melbourne Port Welfare Association, BeyondBlue, the Rotary Club of Melbourne South and the Stella Maris Seafarers’ Centre to provide crucial information.

About 60,000 seafarers visit Melbourne each year and the organisations hope this information will help them to identify depressed seafarers so they can provide them with the necessary assistance.

Professional ship visitors from both seafarer centres will distribute leaflets and booklets in English, Chinese and Russian, which are the three most common languages spoken by visiting seafarers.

The information contained in the printed material will include a checklist to help determine if someone appears depressed, guidance on how help a person with depression, information on understanding depression, emergency hotline numbers and telephone numbers for information.

The program, which is titled The Mental Health of Seafarers, is a reaction to an investigation conducted in 2008 by the Rotary Club of Melbourne South.

The investigation found that seafarers were more likely to suffer from mental illness than their land-based counterparts.

The Rotary Club of Melbourne South and Rotary District 9800 (71 clubs in and around Melbourne) and others have allocated $15,000 to cover printing costs for the first year of the project.

For more information contact [email protected]. To download the booklet on depression in English click on http://www.melbsouthrotary.com.au then click on Mental Health of Seafarers on the menu and follow the prompts.