A huge thank you, on behalf of our Deptherapy friends

This is basically to say a huge, huge thank you, on behalf of the Deptherapy Board, our beneficiaries and especially myself, to the organisations that support us; The Armed Forces’ Covenant Fund Trust, The Veterans’ Foundation and the Invictus Games’ Foundation.  Without your grants and support we could not achieve what we do.

Everything is happening at a 1000 miles an hour at the moment and basically within 3 months we have delivered programme that would normally have been spread over two years.

A press release has been prepared about the August Open Water Course; one is being prepared for our Malta expedition and an initial one is the making for our expedition the Grenada in October.

MALTA

We have just arrived back from running the RAID Advanced Wreck Course in Malta, although the weather offered some real challenges we delivered an amazing programme, working with some amazing people.

If we had to close our doors tomorrow we would do so safe in the knowledge that what we delivered in Malta was in my view, after 12 years of delivering Deptherapy programmes and five days before my 71^stbirthday; ‘Our Finest Hour’ We have achieved so much over the years but this expedition was special.

As the song Nessun Dorma, from the opera Turandot closes the Italian words translate to:

“At dawn I will triumph”

A group of eight beneficiaries triumphed in Malta in a way that many, both within and outside the scuba diving world would find unbelievable given the mental health issues that 7 of them have.  I wrote this on social media:

“AMBITION – ACHIEVEMENT – ADVENTURE 

Deptherapy beneficiaries take on the challenge of the RAID Advanced Wreck Course in Malta.

So you have Chronic PTSD from your service in Afghan.  Would you be able to dive and penetrate a wreck at 20 metres, with your mask ‘blacked out’? Then be taken off the penetration line and find your way back onto it without being able to see it? Then work out which direction you are then heading?

Would you be able to do that without a panic attack or a stress induced flashback?

This is what we do, we change lives by providing the Ambition to succeed, the sense of Adventure and finally the mental stimulus that Achievement provides.

Many of those we work with have been and in some cases, still are, at the high end of the mental health spectrum, particularly PTSD spectrum. 

They completed their skills and drills to perfection, no panic attacks, no flashbacks, safe in the knowledge that they were supported by their dive buddies and the instructional team.

The photos show ‘lining off’ an essential skill for wreck divers, wreck penetration and ‘silt out’ where the diver has his mask covered, so he cannot see, thus simulating a silt out/white out.

Lots of skills learned, great course, great company, great place for wreck diving, working with Divewise which is a great dive centre!

If you are a veteran from the UK Armed Forces and have life changing mental and/or physical challenges then get in touch with us!  

We save lives, we change lives.”

For many of those on the expedition night time and darkness is when the demons come ”the tiger comes at night, her words as soft as thunder and it tears your world apart.’ It is the time of nightmares and flashbacks, in some cases night terrors.  It is a huge achievement by the instructional team, to build the confidence in beneficiaries that allows you basically to black out their mask, take them off the penetration line, and they then have to find the line and work out what direction they are travelling in. Believe me this is a very high stressor to any diver let alone of you are suffering from PTSD. Many divers with no mental and/or physical challenges would panic and sometimes bolt in such a scenario.

Many of those on the programme were having dark and reflective thoughts due to the sudden withdrawal from Afghan.  Many felt devalued and it brought into the open the images of death, sometimes of close friends on the battlefield.  The sense of worthlessness returned.  On the expedition we relieved those pressures, even while they were working under extreme stress. We know that many of these dark feelings with resurrect themselves in the next days and weeks and we are working hard to keep the beneficiaries positive and where necessary ensuring they receive professional support.  One of the expedition members had though of taking his own life in the days before the expedition as he recalled the death of his best friend as they patrolled together in Afghan. He ahs never been able to visit his friend’s grave but has agreed to visit the grave with me, to pay his respects to his best mate.

Open Water Course

As previously reported the August Open Water Course was a huge success and was only possible due to the Veteran’s Foundation funding.

Grenada

As you all know we were due to travel to Egypt on 13 October, for a two week marine biology course funded by a Grant by the AFCFT and was part of a two year programme.

A risk analysis showed that Egypt was unlikely to move to Amber on the Government’s travel list given a surge in cases, a poor vaccination programme and insufficient testing and scientific analysis.  W and warm seas, we trawled the diving locations for a ‘Green’ country and Grenada was identified as suitable.  Grenada offers the blue and warm seas which are good for our beneficiaries.  AFCFT have been amazing in allowing the flexibility to alter our programme.  WE travel on 13 October and return on 24 October.

We are working closely with the Aquanauts dive centre which is fully disabled accessible as are its boats. While in Malta it was suggested that we should implement the home work learning beneficiaries have undertaken with the Open Oceans project over the last 15 months and carry out a reef survey of coral and aquatic life.  Beneficiaries have learned the theory of techniques and will now turn those into practice in Grenada.  We will choose a suitable reef when in Grenada and two days diving will be dedicated to the coral mapping.  It is again another big challenge and will be led by Deptherapy beneficiary and Ambassador who has just finished the first year of his Marine Biology BSc at Hull University.  The project will be totally beneficiary lead and run and the result of the study will be written up by Tom.

We will keep you informed of our progress as this project develops.

Elsewhere: 

Dale Mallin, a beneficiary is speaking at an event in the House of Lords in October on Veterans’ Mental health and he intends to talk about our work.  Tom Oates and Keiron Bradbury will be attending, and speaking about Deptherapy in early October at a fundraising event run by a dive club in North Yorkshire to raise funds for Deptherapy.

If any of you who knows any veteran who has experienced a life changing mental and/or physical challenge then please put them in touch.