1st Training

I am currently in Vancouver at a regional NAMMA Conference.    Jason Z, true to his calling, did an amazing deep dive into the history of the shared work here in Vancouver.   It was excellent scholarly work as he took us through the “story” of tensions, visions, realities and resolution. Every port community has its own story of seafarers welfare, and I think it important to at least know our own roots? Do you have a local history of your missions? If you do send it along to me so we can share it with others.

We also were trained in “SafeTalk” which is the Suicide Prevention course that is considered mandatory training for all station managers, chaplains, ship visitors and volunteers.   This was an excellent investment of 4 hours.    The intention is that this will be rolled out in every station or area group of stations.   

There is provision for including others in the port community that would have contact with Seafarers who may see signs of distress such as Pilots, Agents, Security personnel.  

 If you would like to organize an event in your port, please let me know.    MTS in London has a budget to see that this happens.   

This is only one of about 15 courses that will be made available to all of us in Canada.   You can have a look at the training section of this site to get an idea of what else will be coming.

I have also sent out by email the resources for Sea Sunday

Eric Phinney

Regional Director