ITF launches Mind At Sea wellbeing talks

The International Transport Workers' Federation has begun taking its Mind At Sea campaign onto ships. It launched the drive in Sydney on World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2026, with the message "It's ok not to be ok." In its 9 October release, the ITF says the campaign will run across several countries and continents until early December, and that it plans to repeat it every year.

Mind At Sea is a mental-health and suicide-prevention campaign. It is meant to help seafarers reach support and to make wellbeing a normal part of a ship visit. The first phase envisages two countries on each continent. The longer aim is that every ITF inspector includes mental health in a routine visit.

Dr Asif Altaf, the ITF's Wellbeing Programme Coordinator, said life at sea can put enormous strain on seafarers, and that too many still feel they have to carry it alone. Inspectors and unions already talk with crews about pay and conditions. Mind At Sea puts mental health into those conversations.

What changes on board

On participating ship visits, ITF inspectors are encouraged to hold an informal wellbeing talk of about 10 to 15 minutes. The ITF says the talks cover stress, fatigue, sleep and isolation, and where to get help. Inspectors will share campaign materials and point crews to the ITF Seafarers' App, mental health helplines and welfare services.

The campaign uses four actions: reflect, recognise, respond and reach out. The talk is a chance to notice when you, or a colleague, may need support, and to say so. Affiliated unions are also encouraged to build peer support and to share resources with seafarers' families.

The ITF describes the talks as informal, held inside a visit that is already happening. Splash247 reported the same change, and the plan to run the programme every year.

What the 2019 study measured

The ITF rests the campaign on a 2019 study by Rafael Lefkowitz and Martin Slade of Yale University, funded by the ITF Seafarers' Trust. The release notes give the figures in full. Among 1,572 respondents, 25% had scores suggesting depression, 17% had scores suggesting anxiety, and 20% met the study's measure of suicidal ideation. The ITF says that measure covered thoughts of being better off dead, or of hurting themselves, over the preceding two weeks. It states that these are survey findings and screening measures, rather than clinical diagnoses or current industry-wide prevalence estimates. The Seafarers' Trust publication page carries the report.

A 2019 screening score is not a diagnosis, and it is not a count of how many seafarers are in crisis now.

Death compensation in agreements

ITF Maritime Coordinator Jacqueline Smith said seafarers' mental health "is a workplace health and safety issue, and it must be treated as one." She named adequate rest, protection from bullying and access to professional help as part of a healthy workplace, and said shipowners and governments must do more to protect seafarers from mental ill-health.

The federation wants death compensation for suicide included in all of its collective bargaining agreements. Smith said that cover is already in the Norwegian Seafarers' Union's cruise agreements, and that it should be the standard in every agreement. Splash247 reported the same demand, with a call for better access to professional mental-health support for seafarers and their families. Families who lose a loved one to suicide, the ITF says, deserve support and financial protection.

The release also cites a commitment by India's Directorate General of Shipping, made at an ITF event in Mumbai on 7 April 2025, to ensure compensation for all deaths on board Indian-flagged ships, including suicide, under new and existing agreements.

The notes also record earlier mental-health work with the governments of India, Indonesia and the Philippines. The Philippines item is an agreement and later training with the Philippine Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) in 2025. The release gives no Philippines-only timetable and no separate Filipino survey figure.

What crew can do

If you are struggling, talk to someone you trust on board or ashore. On a participating visit, use the 10 to 15 minute talk to say how you are and to ask where help is. The ITF Seafarers' App, for iOS and Android, is what inspectors are asked to promote. It can reach an inspector or an affiliated union, contact the ITF helpline, and show whether a ship is ITF-approved.

If a colleague seems to be struggling, notice the change, respond, and help them reach someone else. If anyone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services as well as a seafarer helpline.

Help now

SeafarerHelp, run by the International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN), is a free, confidential, multilingual helpline for seafarers and their families, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for emotional, wellbeing and practical support. The number published on seafarerhelp.org is +44 20 7323 2737. The same page offers live chat, email, WhatsApp and a call-back request. ISWAN says you speak with a trained person, and you share only what you are comfortable sharing.

The ITF also points crews and families to its Wellbeing Directory, which lists confidential advice in different languages, and to the materials inspectors will carry on Mind At Sea visits through early December.