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Deptherapy returns to its Roots – Part 7

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Join Richard Cullen from Deptherapy for the final part of his Blog about the charity’s recent expedition to Roots Red Sea, El Quseir, Egypt.

Deptherapy expeditions do not just magically happen, they need planning and they need funding.  This expedition was funded by our long-term partners the Veterans’ Foundation.  The funding is part of a grant they awarded us for programmes this year, which were then put on hold because of COVID.

All charities in the Armed Forces’ Sector are struggling for funds. Deptherapy desperately needs support going forward and every penny counts.

We know what we do works and at the end of this blog you will find details of the research studies into Deptherapy’s programmes and how they impact on the lives of our beneficiaries.  This includes details that are hot off the press about the latest study that reports that what we offer through scuba diving and 24/7 support has benefits beyond those found in other sporting rehabilitation programmes.

Well tomorrow we fly home, late in the evening with the journey home for some of the guys who live up North taking around 15 hours after leaving Roots.

We want to make the most of today but with the tide running we are not going to be able to dive until later this morning which means only two dives today.

Oatsie and Swars about to start their sidemount dives

Things, however are really busy over at the dive centre with Swars and Oatsie putting their sidemount kit together for their training dives with Steve Rattle leading to their RAID sidemount qualification.  It has been nice to be able to offer the guys this extra training, given the amount of work they have put in this week.  They have needed to get through their theory quickly but given the RADI online learning system this has not been too arduous.

Steve came diving with us yesterday to get some more photos and was really amazed at the progress that Corey had made. He was quite open in his praise, as in his view Corey has gone from a non-diver to being a very competent OW diver capable of diving, unsupervised, with a buddy.  Praise indeed.

Other than the sidemount course we are diving as a group today: Corey, Keiron, Michael, Moudi and me. Corey has been given some tasks – SMB deployment on both dives and the afternoon dive will be a ‘naturalist dive’.  Guy Henderson has set Corey a task: ‘to identify three species of fish and record the time into the dive and the depth at which each one was spotted’.  Guy runs Marine Biology courses on the reef and knows where the fish are to be found, how long into the dive, and at what time.

The two Toms are getting put through their paces. They have walked their cylinders down to the entry point, but Steve sends them back to the dive centre to collect other kit they should have brought with them.

Our general dive goes well and the sidemount guys appear from their sidemount dive some 90 minutes after dipping their heads under the water.

Corey enjoying being a RAID OW20 Diver

Lots of bubbly chat at lunchtime, a group of really happy divers. Corey really has benefited from the week and over lunch thanked the team for making him a diver. He has very quickly become part of the family and after returning home he published an amazing post on Facebook about his experience.  Corey really gets Deptherapy and had soon realised that we see past mental and physical injuries and see the person inside and work with that person.  He also realised that we want beneficiaries to see their fellow beneficiaries in the same light.  He knows he now has another ‘family’ – a family of brothers in arms who have two things in common, they served their country and they have suffered life changing injuries or illnesses.

Back into the water for the afternoon dive and Corey identifies the fish and records the details on a slate.  The two Tom’s complete their second dive and qualify as RAID Sidemount Divers. Great!

Kit packed away and it is time to return to the camp for a few well-earned last night drinks.

I am often asked why we use Roots as our exclusive base for diving. I have mentioned before that it offers us an ideal retreat, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We are secluded and there are no distractions such as late-night bars etc.

Roots Accessible Room

The second reason is the amazing welcome we receive from Steve, Clare, Moudi and the team.  We have been going to Roots since 2014 and many of the staff have become good friends, they understand our needs and are the friendliest people you could ever wish to meet.

The third reason is the huge investment Steve and Clare have made in making the resort and dive centre accessible for those with physical injuries including those who need to use wheelchairs.  All our beneficiaries can enjoy Roots and, in fact, love it here.  The reef is perfect for us and in non-COVID times we can travel to the Salem Express and other dive sites to enjoy more of the Red Sea experience.

Accessible toilet on the Roots beach

After discussions with the team I was very proud to be able to tell Corey that his progress had been such that we were inviting him on the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust sponsored two-week Marine Biology Course at Roots in June 2021. There is lots of homework to undertake under the guidance of Dr Debbie McNeill of Open Oceans and Corey will be sent the Red Sea Guide which is the basis for study.

While on that programme, Corey with fellow beneficiary Dale Mallin, will complete his RAID Advanced 35 course.  This all builds to a 10-day Red Sea liveaboard in 2022, onboard Roots’ new boat Big Blue where 18 beneficiaries will compare the coral and aquatic life on the wrecks of the SS Thistlegorm and the less known SS Turkia that is to be found in the Gulf of Suez and is rarely dived.

Paul Rose, our Vice President, is supporting the programme and is seeking the support of the UN and the Royal Geographical Society. A comprehensive report will be submitted to our partners in the project and to the Egyptian Authorities.

Last night and chill

What we do works:

In recent years there have been three academic studies into our work:

2018 – A study by a team from the University of Sheffield Medical School.

2019 – A study by The Centre of Trauma at Nottingham University.

Both these studies reported very positively on Deptherapy’s work both underwater but also in terms of the provision of 24/7 support.

The following is from our press release which was issued on 26th October:

‘A new study into Scuba Diving Rehabilitation Charity Deptherapy’s approach to supporting Armed Forces veterans with psychological injuries such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) through the medium of scuba diving has been carried out by Petra Walker in conjunction with Hanna Kampman of the Posttraumatic Growth Research Unit at the University of East London.

This study, which used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), demonstrates that scuba diving has rehabilitation benefits beyond those found in other forms of sporting rehabilitation exercise. IPA is a qualitative methodology that examines the experiences of participants and has been used in previous studies of Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) in para-athletes.

Petra is an experienced diver herself and was exploring the wellbeing aspects of scuba diving as part of her Masters in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology when she came across a previous study on Deptherapy. Past studies have mainly focused on the medical aspects of diving, so the opportunity to examine the mental health side of rehabilitative scuba diving was impossible to ignore. The full study is currently embargoed until it is published at a future date in an academic journal, but it follows similar academic research into the work of Deptherapy by the University of Sheffield Medical School (2018) and the University of Nottingham (2019).’

This is amazing news and sets us apart from other sporting rehabilitation programmes.

We are currently working with our VP Richard Castle who is a Consultant Psychologist and our Dive Medicine Advisor Mark Downs to identify further areas of psychological and physical dive related research.

We end the week on a happy note.  A young man who has learned to dive properly with a RAID OW 20 certification, a new RAID Master Rescue Diver, two new RAID Sidemount Divers, 5 new RAID O2 Providers, many assessments for our DMs but most of all a week of learning, of making new friendships, renewing old friendships, and building on our family ethos.

Until we meet again…

For us, Deptherapy is a journey, a journey that continues to push boundaries in the use of scuba diving in the rehabilitation of those suffering life changing mental and/or physical challenges.  On our journey we want to change the way the scuba diving industry views diving for those with disabilities.

In the new year, we will be launching, with our diver training agency partners RAID, a new and exciting adaptive teaching programme that will offer diving to the disabled community. We can’t wait to share it with you!


Find out more about the work of Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education at www.deptherapy.co.uk

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SSI Welcomes its Newest Diver Specialty Program: Computer Diving

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computer diving

In this digital age, SSI makes keeping up with technology a priority. Over the years, we have seen more and more divers invest in a personal dive computer. Now that the MySSI App is capable of integrating with participating manufacturers’ dive computers, we wanted to create a program that will ensure every SSI diver knows how to fully utilize their dive computer’s unique features. Therefore, we are excited to introduce SSI’s newest specialty diver program, Computer Diving.

SSI designed the Computer Diving program to help certified divers become familiar with the numerous features and benefits of using a dive computer. By ensuring your customers understand how to use all the functions of a dive computer, you will not only increase their dive safety but also help make planning and executing dives easier. The SSI Computer Diving program explores the functions and capabilities of different dive computers and explains how to seamlessly integrate these features into the entire dive experience, from pre-dive preparations to post-dive reflecting and logging. Practical application topics within the course include setting and changing nitrox settings, using the pre-dive planning feature, and downloading dives to keep a digital logbook.

The appeal of the SSI Computer Diving Specialty extends beyond the realm of scuba divers. Your certified Freedive and Mermaid customers will also enjoy taking this course. All breath-hold divers can benefit from learning how the various tools within their dive computer can increase performance and safety while training and executing their actual dives.

If you are an SSI Training Center or Pro, your students can start their Computer Diving program online today by contacting your SSI Training Center to purchase and download the materials. Don’t have an SSI Pro certified to teach the Computer Diving specialty yet? Have them log into their MySSI profile to upgrade to this new SSI offering.

This specialty program is just one of the many tools SSI provides its Training Centers. Now is the time to reap the benefits of SSI’s continued growth in its training offerings. Call SSI at 1-800-892-2702 or visit us at https://my.divessi.com/become_trainingcenter to become an SSI Pro or Training Center today!

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BSAC launches Divesoft Liberty rebreather course

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The British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) is bolstering access to technical dive training with the new BSAC Divesoft Liberty CCR course.

This course is a first step (MOD 1) into the silent bubble-free world of rebreather diving, and opens up a new world of diving experiences and possibilities for members.

Benefits of the Divesoft Liberty rebreather

Founded in 2013 in the Czech Republic, Divesoft developed its closed circuit rebreather (CCR) primarily with the guidance of cave divers. The Divesoft Liberty was the first fault-tolerant electronically controlled rebreather released into the recreational diving market. The Liberty is designed where all vital electronic elements have redundancy so that no single failure can disable the system.

Even if a critical systems error occured, the diver can safely return to the surface on the Liberty, maximising safety and efficiency. The design follows the same approach utilised in many safety-critical applications in the aerospace industry.

The Liberty’s modularity and ease of maintenance allow the diver to maintain the unit in all environments, including the harsh conditions of an expedition.

Divesoft Liberty rebreather

BSAC Divesoft Liberty CCR Diver course

The brand new BSAC Liberty CCR course will teach a suitably qualified open-circuit diver to safely dive their rebreather to a maximum depth of 45m. This highly versatile unit offers a wide range of adjustability and settings, making it great for beginners and expert CCR divers alike.

Students get a thorough grounding in rebreather technology, and in-depth Liberty-specific training. The course includes decompression diving, and trimix gas planning, and teaches all the skills and drills required to dive the Liberty and address all possible situations.

The course is open to BSAC Sports Divers or above, who have completed a 35m depth certification. Trainees must also hold the Accelerated Decompression Procedures qualification or be an Advanced Nitrox diver (or equivalent.)

Divesoft Liberty rebreather

The BSAC Liberty course covers decompression diving and trimix gas planning, with skills and drills required to dive the Liberty and address all  possible situations. Trainees can choose to dive with air as a diluent, but will have been trained using 20/35 trimix as a diluent,  so when they use 20/35 are allowed to dive to a  maximum depth of 45m, at the MOD 1 level of training.

The dry practical sessions will cover assembly, preparing and maintaining the Liberty, including updating the control firmware and downloading dives from the unit, using the Divesoft PC and phone applications.

All the new skills will be introduced during the sheltered water training dives, including applying the student’s current rescue skills to CCR diving: the sheltered water training is followed by seven open-water dives.

Nick Jewson, BSAC Technical Liberty Instructor said:

“The introduction of the Liberty CCR MOD 1 course demonstrates that BSAC continues to evolve its technical dive offering for members. We plan to have a minimum of four BSAC Liberty instructors in place early in the 2024 season, and with potential students waiting to do the course we can’t wait to see BSAC-qualified Liberty divers using this impressive rebreather in exciting expeditions very soon.”

Divesoft Liberty rebreather

The BSAC Liberty CCR MOD 1 course will be officially launched at the Go Diving Show near Kenilworth, Warwickshire on the weekend of 2nd-3rd March 2024, where Divesoft will have units on display.

Nick continued: “Visitors should head to stand N4 to get a hands-on look at the Divesoft Liberty and talk to the BSAC Liberty course team. Come and have a look, book your place on a regional Liberty try dive event, or sign up for the BSAC MOD 1 Liberty CCR Diver training course. We’ll ready to show you how the Liberty CCR can transform your diving!”

To learn more about the BSAC diving community, visit www.bsac.com

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