Scuba Diving rehabilitation charity Deptherapy is delighted to announce that it has been awarded the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Trusted Charity Mark. In an unprecedented award, Deptherapy is the first volunteer-managed and run charity ever to receive this Mark.

The award of the Trusted Charity Mark follows several months of rigorous and complex assessment in a process that is normally reserved for larger charities managed and operated by paid employees.

In order to receive the Mark, Deptherapy had to meet the criteria in eleven areas of the quality standard including Governance, Leadership and Management, Managing Money, and Working with Others.

The Assessor praised the “robust leadership” of Deptherapy’s close-knit Trustee Board, which “ensures that the charity is led with transparency and integrity.” He also said that the charity “has developed a very strong reputation as a world leader in adaptive scuba diving techniques and has developed clear and robust policies and procedures to ensure that the organisation is efficiently run and works to a very high standard.”

Daimon Haywood, Vice Chairman and Trustee of Deptherapy, said:

“Jim Lovell, the NASA astronaut said: “There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen.” We are a charity built on a team that makes things happen. We have received the Trusted Charity Mark through sheer hard work and the dedication of an amazing team of volunteers who change lives.”

eptherapy Programme Members Andy Searle and Jon Beever taking part in a coral reef surveying and conservation course at Roots Red Sea. Photo – Dmitry Knyazev for Deptherapy.

Debra Lilley, who became President of Deptherapy in April 2019, said:

“When I was invited to be President of Deptherapy I first wanted to understand their governance; as a Chartered Director this is very important to me. Receiving the NCVO Trusted Charity Mark is official recognition of what I found: a charity run in a way others should absolutely aspire to match.”

The award of the Trusted Charity Mark comes just a month before the charity undertakes its largest expedition yet to the Red Sea with a team of 30 divers travelling to Roots in El Quseir to undertake Open Water Training and Continuing Education up to Adaptive Teaching & Divemaster level.

The team will be joined on this trip by four people from outside the charity who will be undertaking the Deptherapy Education Pros’ Course. Also joining the group are three British instructors, one from Egypt and two from Saudi Arabia, together with photographer Dmitry Knyazev.

On 28th May, Programme Member Tom Oates, accompanied by Deptherapy’s Chairman Richard Cullen, will deliver a presentation to the Board of the Royal Foundation’s Endeavour Fund. Tom and Richard will talk about Team Deptherapy’s commitment to ‘giving back’, with particular reference to the Protecting our Oceans project and how this is being further developed and enhanced.

The Deptherapy Board wishes to thank the Confederation of British Service Charities (COBSEO) for its support during the Trusted Charity Mark assessment process.

For more information about the work of Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education visit www.deptherapy.co.uk.