Dive Training Blogs
Jeff chats to… Jim Elliott and Tinamarie Hernandez of Diveheart (Watch Video)
In this exclusive Zoom interview, Jeff Goodman, Scubaverse Editor-at-Large, chats to Jim Elliott, Founder and President of Diveheart, and Tinamarie Hernandez, Executive Director, about the new documentary ‘Adapting to Dive’ by David Marsh.
Diveheart, a Downers Grove-based nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, and Los Angeles filmmaker David Marsh will be presenting the world premiere of the documentary called “Adapting To Dive” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Classic Cinemas Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave. in Downers Grove.
Since 2001, Diveheart has been helping youth, veterans, and others with disabilities through adaptive scuba and scuba therapy. Last year, Marsh went on a life-changing Diveheart scuba adventure trip to Cozumel, Mexico. As a result, he experienced a transformational journey while doing the film after losing his son to an overdose just seven days before the trip.
After doing some pre-trip research, Marsh felt he understood the spirit of the Diveheart mission and vision. He had completed backstories on many of the adaptive divers who went on the trip when his son passed. He chose to go on the trip and said nothing to anyone until asked about his experience on the very last day. He then shared his loss and that he had been remotely planning his son’s funeral while filming the documentary.
“David Marsh is amazing and awesome. Despite his loss and grief, he soldiered on and captured the spirit, love, and hope that emerges from every Diveheart trip,” said Diveheart Founder and President Jim Elliott. “He really captured the essence of our mission and shared the real-life experience of what Diveheart does to help those with disabilities experience freedom underwater.”
In the documentary, every day embraces a theme. One day it is trust. Another day it is about freedom and then finally adapting. Audiences will see how Marsh emphatically listened and translated the feelings of the adaptive divers who shared with him their losses, struggles, fears, and hopes.
“We are so grateful to David for capturing Diveheart in action,” Elliott said. “I’m hoping this documentary will reach many people and give awareness to Diveheart’s mission: to revolutionize rehabilitation by using zero gravity underwater to help those with everything from mobility issues to chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. We help our participants find that self-confidence, personal strength, and independence, and we will continue to do so in the years to come.”
Watch the trailer of the documentary here:
Tickets to the premiere are $12 for general admission and accessible seating. For information about the documentary and tickets, visit this link.
Jim Elliott left a successful career in the media business to launch Diveheart. The not-for-profit organization seeks to instill the can-do spirit in its participants. Diveheart doesn’t discriminate when it comes to working with people with disabilities and serves cognitively and physically impaired individuals worldwide.
Since 2001 Elliott, who is a volunteer with no salary, has initiated Scuba Therapy research with university medical centers around the country, including the first study on Autism and Scuba Therapy and the world’s most innovative Adaptive Scuba Training program for instructors, dive buddies and Adaptive Divers. He also lectures and trains dive professionals in the “Business of Adaptive Scuba”.
Tinamarie Hernandez grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. She’s always had a love of learning and was the first in her family to attend and graduate college. She has always found a way to give back, be it through candy striping, coaching softball, teaching swim lessons to people with disabilities or teaching Sunday school. When asked what drew her to Diveheart, Tinamarie responded: “I grew up with a cousin who lived his life with both physical and cognitive challenges. Joey didn’t let much hold him back and I just know he would have loved scuba, had he known about Diveheart.”
Find out more at www.Diveheart.org.
Rather listen to a podcast? Listen to the audio HERE on the Scubaverse podcast channel at Anchor FM.
PADI® (Professional Association of Diving Instructors®) has recently launched their new Professional Development Excellence Award in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), celebrating PADI Five Star Instructor Development Centers (IDC) that are championing creating more PADI Professionals, at all levels, during the previous calendar year.
“While becoming a PADI Five Star IDC Center is a prized accreditation amongst members, this exclusive rating comes with the responsibility of training the next generation of divers to become PADI Instructors,” explains Dave Murray, Managing Director for PADI EMEA.
“PADI’s commitment to a continuing education philosophy encourages divers to realise their dreams of a career as a PADI Pro, teaching others to do what they love – to scuba dive. This new recognition award distinguishes productive PADI Five Star IDC stores for the time and effort they dedicate to marketing and conducting the professional training needed to grow the scuba diving industry.”
PADI’s EMEA Professional Development Excellence Award recognises members for reaching specific milestones based on the number of PADI Pro certifications they issue annually. It also provides an extra layer of credentials in their “Pro Development Status” to potential Divemaster and IDC candidates, along with any other prospective Pro-level customers and prospective employees.
The first awards were distributed earlier this year, with 12 PADI Five Star IDC Centers receiving the Platinum Award. This means that they have issued a minimum of 100 PADI Professional certifications from Divemaster to IDC Staff Instructor, which include 30 Core Professional certifications and 70 Continuing Education Instructor level certifications.
The 2025 PADI EMEA Professional Development Excellence Award is already underway and renewed PADI EMEA Five Star IDC Dive Centers and Resorts are automatically eligible. Stores that reach the recognition levels during 2024 will receive their award in the first quarter of 2025.
For more information about the award and to see the full list of award recipients visit here.
About PADI
PADI® (Professional Association of Diving Instructors®) is the largest purpose-driven diving organization with a global network of 6,600 dive centers and resorts, 128,000 professional members, and more than 30 million certified divers to date. Committed to our blue planet, PADI makes the wonder of the underwater world accessible to all, empowering people around the world to experience, explore and take meaningful action, as Ocean TorchbearersTM, to protect the world beneath the surface. For over 50 years, PADI is undeniably The Way the World Learns to Dive®, setting the standard for the highest quality dive training, underwater safety and conservation initiatives while evolving the sport of diving into a passionate lifestyle. For divers by divers, PADI is obsessed with transforming lives and, with its global foundation, PADI AWARETM, creating positive ocean change. Seek Adventure. Save the Ocean.SM www.padi.com
RAID’s Performance Diver program is part of the training agency’s unique ‘tune-up’ options for divers at all levels, from basic to technical. Its appeal to newer divers who did not get all they wanted from their open water course (perhaps with a non-RAID dive centre) has always been strong. But it’s a winning option for someone who has been inactive for a while as well.
The skills taught in this course have been designed by some of the most respected dive professionals in the industry. They have condensed years of in-water experience into a great program that’s fuelled by great ideas and solid knowledge. Something useful in all sorts of conditions and all sorts of gear configurations. In short, a range of skills you will use on every dive: buoyancy, trim, situational awareness, gear selection and management, contingency planning… having fun and staying safe.
You can find out more about RAID’s Performance Diver program here.
And with the agency’s renewed focus in 2024 on breath-hold programs, July is a good time to read about the benefits of RAID’s range of Freediving courses.
Freediving is such an exhilarating and beautiful sport that allows you to connect with the underwater world in a unique way.
The thrill of diving deep down, holding your breath, and exploring the depths with just a single breath is truly an unforgettable experience.
It requires focus, control, and a deep respect for the ocean. The sense of freedom and tranquility you can find while freediving is unlike any other.
Have you ever tried freediving or are you interested in learning more about it? You do not have to be a scuba diver to start… not at all!
And if you are already a diver, RAID can help you discover a whole new way to look at a familiar world.
You can find out more about RAID’s Freediving courses here.
To find out more about RAID and the agency’s diver training programs, visit diveraid.com.
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