RAID News

RAID JOINS FORCES WITH DEPTHERAPY TO CREATE NEW ADAPTIVE TEACHING PROGRAMMES

Following a presentation at the GO Diving Show in Coventry, UK, at the end of February, scuba diving rehabilitation charity Deptherapy has announced that it is working on a series of exciting new programmes with diver training agency partner RAID. These new programmes are destined to transform scuba diving training for all abilities.

Award-winning Deptherapy is the acknowledged world leader in Adaptive Teaching – training those with lifechanging mental and/or physical challenges through specially designed scuba diving programmes that enable divers to achieve standard agency certifications. Many of Deptherapy’s programme members have suffered limb loss and other significant physical injuries. 80 per cent of members are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or other chronic mental illness. Sadly, people with all kinds of disability are still actively discriminated against inside and outside the scuba diving industry. However, the work of Deptherapy has shown that even those with massive injuries can still meet all the standards required to become main agency qualified divers without the stigma of ‘disability’ being shown on their certification card.

Successful Adaptive Teaching requires considerable additional effort from the instructional team, working very closely with the student, to think ‘out of the box’ so that the individual can achieve the required standard.

Until now, the majority of Deptherapy programme members have been UK Armed Forces veterans, but the charity has long been a champion of the cause to make scuba diving accessible to all those with disabilities.

Moving forwards with RAID, Deptherapy and its training arm Deptherapy Education are now working towards extending their programme to push the boundaries of Adaptive Teaching for a wider cohort, as well as offering an alternative for those with disabilities or medical conditions that mean standard certifications are unachievable.

Richard Cullen, Chair of Deptherapy explains: “The Deptherapy Team is realistic, and we know from experience that some divers will not be able to achieve the standard certifications, even with Adaptive Teaching, due to the nature of their illness or injury. For instance, a quad amputee or a quadriplegic cannot complete all the skills required but they can still dive on a limited certification, providing they do so with the support of a qualified team trained to support a diver with extreme levels of disability.

“In partnership with RAID we are working on a new model of Adaptive Teaching, but also we want to provide limited certifications similar to the old D1- D3 levels for those divers who are unable to meet required standards.”

A new training programme for dive professionals is being finalised to facilitate the new teaching models. The new Deptherapy / RAID course for Instructors and Divemasters will prepare trainers to teach adaptively, to understand disability, to make realistic assessments and, most importantly, to support their student through the challenges of becoming a diver. The diver training programmes will then be available through RAID dive centres worldwide.

Paul Toomer, President of Diving at RAID, says: “Deptherapy is unique in its vast experience of working with divers with all types of challenges. The diving world does discriminate against those with disabilities and the easy way has been to qualify them as ‘disabled divers’. We want to see a new approach, one that firstly looks at how a student could reach mainstream certification by adapting skills. If that is not achievable, then we will work to qualify them under the D1-D3 system. We are bringing together professionals from the RAID community worldwide to work on this major project.”

Depending on COVID-19, Deptherapy and RAID plan to run a pilot Dive Professionals course in Autumn 2020, with the remainder of the training courses rolling out from January 2021. For more information about Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education, visit www.deptherapy.co.uk

ENDEAVOUR FUND 2020 – DEPTHERAPY’S TOM OATES WINS HENRY WORSLEY AWARD

Inspirational members of the Armed Forces Community who were injured or fell ill in service have been named as the winners of the Endeavour Fund Awards, recognising their determination to recover, help support others and achieve excellence in their sport or adventurous challenge – and Deptherapy’s Tom Oates took a prestigious honour.

The awards are held annually to celebrate the achievements of those injured in service and recognise the fortitude needed to take the next steps in their lives.

Their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, attended the ceremony to meet the inspiring winners and nominees from the life-changing Endeavour Fund work.

Tom was one of three people put forward for the Henry Worsley Award. This award is presented to the individual who has best inspired others through the demonstration of determination in the face of adversity, while endeavouring to support others with their recovery through sport or adventurous challenge. This was presented to Tom by The Duke of Sussex and Max Worsley.

Tom said: “I have never won anything in my life before so winning the Endeavour Fund’s Henry Worsley Award is unbelievable, Without the support of Deptherapy and the Endeavour Fund I would not be alive; this Award is a true milestone for me. I hope I can give back to the charity by being a Champion for our project ‘Protecting Our Oceans’ and by supporting veterans who are new to the Programme.”

NEWS ROUND-UP

UK – Olivier van Overbeek has been appointed the position of RAID UK Training Manager. He has been a RAID Instructor Trainer for five years and has worked as a consultant for both RAID UK and RAID International. James Rogers, Managing Director for RAID UK, is thrilled with Oli’s decision to join RAID UK and commented that the agency would benefit greatly from his energy and experience.

Given that Oli regularly works with RAID International on course design and consulting for the training department, it seemed only logical for him to fill this position and partner with the UK team.

Oli’s role will include training support and the acquisition of new dive centres and professionals. He will also assist in creating regular HQ-led events to help RAID professionals and dive centres succeed.

South Africa – PJ Prinsloo, Director of Technical Diving at RAID Southern Africa, has become a member of the prestigious Explorers Club.

RAID President Paul Toomer said: “We are honoured to have PJ on our team, his role has been pivotal in so many projects and he has also been responsible for the development and release of several of our most-innovative courses.”

PJ himself said: “So proud to be listed as a member of The Explorers Club. Thankful for the guidance of so many people but especially grateful to my nominating sponsors Jill Heinerth and Paul Vincent Toomer. Many great adventures to look forward to.”

Australia – It is always great to see new recruits to the RAID professional family - congratulations to the six brand-new RAID instructors from Pro Dive Sydney, who completed their Instructor Examination in March. Congratulations to Luke Davies, their Instructor Trainer, who did an amazing job getting everyone prepared to become RAID Instructors. From left – Hayden ‘Manly’ Van Vlimmeren, Eleni Kapeleris, Taylor Marin, Rafael Galdino, ‘Even’ Carlos Arteaga and Kristen Jia, with Steve Bates in the front.

DIVE INTO FREE-LEARNING WITH RAID

RAID, always the innovator, has made sure that everyone, from non-divers to instructor trainers, can have complete access to every level of their extensive online academics and quizzes – for free. All RAID programmes will be available to everyone visiting and registering on: www.diveraid.com

Paul Toomer, President of RAID International, said that opening up the company’s full curriculum for anyone to browse is part of what he referred to as ‘The RAID Way’. He explained: “We do not want to stand in the way of anyone staying engaged with the sport, especially now.”

Peter Nohren, RAID Product Manager, added that the initiative will allow visitors to the RAID website to login and have immediate access to dozens of RAID diver training programmes. “That includes everything from Try Dive to Cave instructor. Even visitors who currently have not created a profile on the RAID site will find becoming a member of the RAID tribe and setting up a personal profile is a very simple process.”

“Once that’s done,” Nohren said, “they can work their way through programmes chapter by chapter, quiz by quiz, and learn something interesting. Perhaps something they want to pursue and earn certification for when that’s possible. We realise that right now, most of us are not able to get our usual underwater fix, but with RAID’s FREe-Learning, you can get ready for when we can.”

At that time, Toomer explained, “RAID members can pick a dive centre to finish their programme, open up the final exam for the courses they’ve completed (as long as they meet the prerequisites) and go diving, with their instructor of choice.”

ACCESS OPENED TO EIGHT NEW TECHNICAL-DEPTH WRECKS IN MALTA

Malta is home to a multitude of wartime shipwrecks and airplane remains, and now this veritable underwater fleet has been bolstered by the announcement that eight new technical-depth wrecks have been made officially accessible to divers. The eight wrecks present a dive into history, and each of the sites has a story to tell – in some cases, a tragic one.

Pre-Dreadnought battleship HMS Russell sank on 27 April 1916 when it struck a mine. She took 125 men to the bottom with her, and can now be found in 114m. World War One minesweeper HMS Nasturtium ironically sank into 67m after hitting a mine just one day after the HMS Russell, but thankfully only seven crew were lost. The sister ship to the HMS Southwold – already a popular techwreck off Malta – joined its sibling after hitting a mine on 16 Juner 1942. The HMS Oakley, at the time carrying the name ORP Kujawiak and in the Polish Navy, now lies in 90m. Making it a clean sweep for mines, the HMT Trusty Star – a trawler requisitioned during World War Two and put into action as a minesweeper – sank after hitting a mine on 10 June 1942 and plummeted to 85m.

The final shipwreck is a British collier, SS Luciston, which was torpedoed on 29 November 1916 and can now be found in 105m.

Rounding out the new sites are three aircraft remnants – a Junkers 88 bomber, which sits in 60m off Bahar ic-Caghaq, a Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber biplane that lies at 55m, and an unidentified plane down at 90m.

At least four more tech-wrecks are due to be announced shortly.