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• WHY RAID? 1001 REASONS TO PARTNER WITH RAID - October 7, 2022
• PROTECT YOURSELF FROM LIABILITY.RAID’S COMPREHENSIVE Q&A SYSTEM CAN DO THAT! - July 14, 2022
• ABC DIVING TECHREATIONAL CENTRE JOIN RAID - July 9, 2022

2020 has been full of change for everybody, every business and every sport. We have had to adjust to new rules, follow new directions and learn new ways to play and learn. RAID and the sport of scuba diving has adjusted just like everyone else

We can announce that you can now finish 2020 in style due to our ever increasing crossover demand with our newest educational update which allows Master Instructors to conduct crossovers of Dive Centres and Instructors to the RAID educational system.

Here’s the important stuff…

I. Purpose

This course is designed to crossover an Instructor in good standing from a recognized training agency to become a RAID Instructor.

II. Candidate Prerequisites

A candidate taking this course must:

• Be a minimum of 18 years old.
• Be certified as an instructor with an approved agency.
• Must have no outstanding quality assurance investigations or violations (within the last 12 months).
• Have Nitrox and Deep 40 instructor certifications or equivalent.
  • If the candidate does not have these certifications, Nitrox and Deep 40 Instructor programs must be completed during the crossover.
• Submit valid equivalent instructor and specialty instructor certifications.
• Submit current approved First Aid and Oxygen Administration certifications.
• Submit a valid Medical Statement signed by a licensed medical practitioner within the past 12 months.
• Submit a copy of diving instructor liability insurance, where applicable.

III. Candidate-to-Crossover Trainer Ratios (Confined and Open Water)

The candidates-to-examiner ratio is 8 Candidates: 1 Crossover Trainer.

IV. Depth Limitations During Training

In confined water, the maximum depth must not exceed 5 meters/15 feet.

In open water, the maximum depth must not exceed 20 meters/66 feet.

For the Deep 40 instructor workshop (when applicable), the maximum depth must not exceed 40 meters/130 feet.

V. Supervision

All training must be conducted and evaluated by an HQ or RRO approved RAID Master Instructor or Instructor Trainer. The Master Instructor or Instructor Trainer must be physically present and in direct supervision of all segments of training.

To qualify to teach the Instructor Crossover, Master Instructor’s must meet the following criteria:

1. Written approval from RAID HQ or local RRO.
2. Must attend a crossover training program with an approved RAID Instructor Trainer or Examiner.
3. Affiliated Dive Center: The dive center website must advertise RAID as the primary agency and that they provide crossover training.

To qualify to teach the Instructor Crossover, Instructor Trainers must meet the following criteria:

1. Written approval from RAID HQ or local RRO.
2. Affiliated Dive Center: The dive center website must advertise RAID as the primary agency and that they provide crossover training.

VI. Equipment Requirements

Refer to “Equipment Requirements” in the RGDS.

VII. Course Requirements

The candidate must fulfill the following requirements.

1. Complete and pass the online academic modules, quizzes, and exams for the IDP and Open Water 20 programs
2. Complete the RAID Instructor crossover orientation including:

The Crossover Presentation.

In water evaluation (in person or via seamless one-shot video where approved).

• Complete the practical assessment, either in person or using the REMOTe-Training crossover format, with an HQ or RRO approved RAID Instructor Trainer or Master Instructor

VIII. In-Water Training (Confined and Open Water)

There is no minimum amount of time in-water.

IX. Certification

Upon successfully passing the Instructor Crossover program and activating the instructor membership, the instructor may independently teach all programs as outlined in the IDP and the RAID General Diving Standards though a RAID Dive Center.

Contact: info@diveraiduk.com for more information.

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RAID UK

Latest posts by RAID UK (see all)

• WHY RAID? 1001 REASONS TO PARTNER WITH RAID - October 7, 2022
• PROTECT YOURSELF FROM LIABILITY.RAID’S COMPREHENSIVE Q&A SYSTEM CAN DO THAT! - July 14, 2022
• ABC DIVING TECHREATIONAL CENTRE JOIN RAID - July 9, 2022

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).

Richard Cullen, Chairman of Deptherapy commented:

“This evidence-based study demonstrates yet again the value of scuba diving and, in particular, the support provided by Deptherapy to severely traumatised people within the Armed Forces community. We await the publication of the detailed findings which we anticipate will be of considerable interest to all organisations who seek to assist in the rehabilitation of veterans through sporting activity, as well as the Scuba Diving world.”

Team Deptherapy returned to the UK last week from their first training expedition since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic. A small group of six veterans travelled with the Deptherapy Instructor Team to the charity’s international base at Roots Red Sea to undertake practical Scuba Diving training in the clear, warm waters of the Red Sea.

Every Deptherapy beneficiary has to undertake a ‘fit to dive’ medical with an HSE Approved Medical Examiner of Divers (AMED) or a Doctor who is a ‘Dive Referee’. A GP ‘sign off’ is not acceptable to Deptherapy as some conditions and medications are contraindicated to scuba diving.

Joining Team Deptherapy for the first time was 20 year old paraplegic Corey Goodson who had this to say:

“I have been made aware of a new academic study about the benefits of Deptherapy. Last week I learned to scuba dive properly with Deptherapy, a huge achievement for someone with paraplegia. Deptherapy doesn’t judge your injury, whether that be physical or psychological; it looks beyond, and it sees the person inside. That person is who they work with, and the
Deptherapy programme encourages you to see your fellow beneficiaries in the same light. More important than the sense of achievement during the training, was the support, care, encouragement and love the team showed me. I have found a new family in Deptherapy. I am home now but the support, friendship and banter continue; it is motivating and empowering, it gives me a deep sense of wellness and worth. I look forward to continuing my rehabilitative journey with Deptherapy.”

For more information about the work of Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education visit www.deptherapy.co.uk.

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RAID UK

Latest posts by RAID UK (see all)

• WHY RAID? 1001 REASONS TO PARTNER WITH RAID - October 7, 2022
• PROTECT YOURSELF FROM LIABILITY.RAID’S COMPREHENSIVE Q&A SYSTEM CAN DO THAT! - July 14, 2022
• ABC DIVING TECHREATIONAL CENTRE JOIN RAID - July 9, 2022

So here we are at Roots Red Sea, El Quseir, Egypt, and it is our first day of diving.

We have two students – Corey who is new to Deptherapy, and Keiron who is undertaking his RAID Master Rescue Course and has progressed from learning to dive with us. We also have three trainee divemasters: Tom Oates ‘Oatsie’, Tom Swarbrick ‘Swars’, and Michael. Each has progressed from OW diver with the charity.

As all our programme members are open about their mental and or physical challenges these are the challenges they face:

Corey is 20 years old and was involved in a horrendous car accident while he was training to be a soldier with the Royal Anglian Regiment.  The accident resulted in his spine being broken at T1 and T4.  He is now paraplegic, unable to walk and he has no sensation in his legs.

Keiron was in the Scots’ Guards and served two tours in Afghanistan. He has Chronic PTSD. Oatsie was in the Scots Guards and served one tour in Afghanistan. He has Chronic Complex PTSD.

Swars was in the Royal Anglian Regiment and he served two tours of Afghanistan. He has survivor guilt and Chronic PTSD from his first tour, and on his second tour he was shot by a sniper, losing five pints of blood and his life was saved by the excellence of battlefield medics. That tour compounded his PTSD.

Oatsie and Swars are both Deptherapy Ambassadors. Michael was in the Royal Engineers and he has Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Chronic PTSD. Michael is a Trustee of the charity and looks after Programme Member Liaison.

Every Deptherapy beneficiary has to undertake a ‘fit to dive’ medical with an HSE Approved Medical Examiner of Divers (AMED) or a Doctor who is a ‘Dive Referee’. A GP ‘sign off’ is not acceptable to Deptherapy as some conditions and medications are contraindicated to scuba diving.

After sorting out kit the whole team were required to undertake a Scuba Review as, with the exception of Michael and myself, none had been diving since last year.

Adaptive teaching requires a special mindset from instructors and divemasters. There are no experts in adaptive teaching, although some profess such expertise. Some, like myself, are very experienced in working with those who have a range of life-changing mental and or physical challenges, but we do not have all the answers.  There are no “I know the answers” in adaptive teaching, every student is different, every student is an individual. The huge danger is that ‘experts’ say I have already taught a paraplegic so teaching this paraplegic is the same; it is not!

The physical or psychological manifestation of the injury or illness is a mechanical issue, the skill is to see past the challenges and see the person you are working with – the real person. 

Many have been living with their conditions for many years and have adapted to overcome the challenges that their injury or condition presents them with.

An example: Can you tie a neck tie using one hand? I bet not!  I know two Deptherapy programme members who can do that and tie their shoelaces in the same way.

Your job, as an Instructor, is to allow the student to achieve the standards necessary for them to be certified as a diver. In Deptherapy we work to full mainstream certification; for us, the base is RAID Open Water Diver.  We do not use the RAID Restricted Certifications of D1, D2, D3.

Veterans have a can-do mindset and very much want full certification and not a certification card that has the word ‘disabled’ on it.  Do not look at what our beneficiaries achieve and think then that every person who wants to learn to dive and has a physical or mental challenge will apply themselves with such vigour.  Veterans are used to ‘drills’ so skills are easy for them to learn and to master.

It’s important not be afraid to ask the student “This is what you have to do to achieve the required standard for a skill and ask how they might perform that skill.”

So, we prepared for the pool! Keiron is a known quantity for us, he is a good diver who had completed all his RAID on-line learning, quizzes and the final exam. Corey was new to us having qualified as a PADI Open Water diver on a trip to the Florida Keys with another charity last year.

Our intention was to put Corey through his RAID Advanced 35 Course. He had completed all the online learning, and passed the quizzes and exams. Corey is a lovely person; he has a great personality and a determination to succeed in everything he does.  As a person, the whole team absolutely loved him.

When kitting up and about to complete a deep-water entry into the pool it became clear that Corey, who is a bright young man, had never carried out some of the skills to the standard required to be an Open Water Diver.  We therefore decided to take him through the RAID OW 20 Confined Water dives with our TDMs Oatsie and Michael, who have excellent skill demonstration abilities, running the sessions under my close supervision.

While Oatsie and Michael worked with Corey on Day 1, Swars worked with Keiron whose instructor was Moudi, the Roots General Manager and a very experienced instructor, through the pool dives of the RAID Master Rescue Course.

For those with physical challenges such as paraplegia or missing limbs, weighting becomes of absolute importance.  Paraplegics who have no sensation or movement in their legs swim with a leg down posture.  If not balanced with correct weighting they swim underwater in an upright position and not horizontally.  Corey assumed this upright position.  In Deptherapy we use ‘Bright Weights’ that are attached to the BCD at chest level to help get the student in a horizontal position.  Corey had never done a forward descent but had done ‘legs down’ descents and had only dived with support.

Michael and Oatsie did a tremendous job in building up Corey’s skills and confidence. Deptherapy has very high standards when it comes to qualifying divers and we insist on pushing boundaries.  Because of the negative stance that many in the diving industry take about divers with disabilities, our expectation is that our students will exceed the required standards.

An Instructor who shows pity or sympathy for a disabled individual and allows them to qualify as divers when they clearly have not met the required standards firstly puts that student at risk, it puts their buddy at risk, and it damages the reputation of all those disabled divers across the world who have met the required standards.

Despite starting from a low base, our determination was by the end of the week to turn Corey into a more than competent RAID Open Water Diver capable of safely being an independent diver, diving with and being able to support a buddy if they required assistance.

Corey, being Corey, accepted the challenge and knew that he had a lot to do. It says a lot about this young man that he faced the challenge square on.

Keiron meanwhile had successfully navigated his way through his confined water dives.

A relaxing and positive evening followed where everyone got to know each other and to talk openly about their challenges and how they dealt with them.

Check back tomorrow as we move to our first day of Open Water training on the magnificent Roots’ House Reefs.

• About
• Latest Posts

RAID UK

Latest posts by RAID UK (see all)

• WHY RAID? 1001 REASONS TO PARTNER WITH RAID - October 7, 2022
• PROTECT YOURSELF FROM LIABILITY.RAID’S COMPREHENSIVE Q&A SYSTEM CAN DO THAT! - July 14, 2022
• ABC DIVING TECHREATIONAL CENTRE JOIN RAID - July 9, 2022

Deptherapy made the very brave decision to book an expedition to our home in Egypt as soon as Roots Red Sea received their certificate from the Egyptian Authorities that the camp and dive centre was COVID secure. Roots is one of very few resorts to receive a certificate from the Egyptian Government. We arrived in Roots the day after they re-opened.

Getting together an expedition was a major task. Very few Approved Medical Examiners’ of Divers or Dive Referees are conducting consultations at the moment. Availability of beneficiaries and the requirement to quarantine on return from Egypt affected the number of beneficiaries available. There was also a requirement to pass a COVID PCR virus test within 72 hours of travelling. We had decided on a small expedition and on the day of travel we had six flying to Egypt.  Unfortunately, Chris Middleton had to drop out the day before we travelled after emergency wisdom tooth surgery.

Our group comprised of Richard Cullen, Michael Hawley, Tom Oates, Tom Swarbrick, Keiron Bradbury and Corey Goodson.  Keiron was undertaking his RAID Master Rescue Course and, as it turned out, Corey was undertaking the RAID Open Water 20 course. Our outbound flight was before midday on Saturday 10 October and I must admit we were all shocked at how deserted was.  Checking in with easyJet took minutes and when we boarded the plane, we found it less than half full.

Corey having a pre-flight temperature check

Corey is a paraplegic since a car accident two years ago while he was training prior to joining the Royal Anglian Regiment.  Corey has no sensation below the waist and is unable to use his legs.  The cabin crew on our flight were quite amazed to see the two Toms and Michael lift him from his wheelchair and place him in his seat for the flight.

Mask protocols were strictly observed by the team, the flight was uneventful, and the easyJet Cabin Crew superb. We also took a digital thermometer to check temperatures prior to flying. Hurghada Airport was very quiet and we moved through Immigration and collected our baggage in very quick time.

Two things to note:  If you are travelling to Hurghada you need to complete a COVID declaration for the Egyptian Authorities. If not, you have to fill out the rather lengthy form when you arrive.  You can undertake a COVID test on arrival at Hurghada Airport but the queues are long.  It costs much less than the tests we had done in the UK – BUT – you are required to be quarantined at your hotel until the test result comes through.  This means two days with no access to resort facilities.  If the test comes back as positive you have at least two weeks being confined to your room.

Transport to Roots was, as ever, on hand and we were soon at the camp and being briefed about the COVID arrangements.  A lot of work has been put in place to make Roots COVID compliant – and all at considerable expense. None of the usual hugs with the Roots team and you have your temperature checked every morning and every time you return from the dive centre.  Your dive kit is sterilised every night ready for the next day’s diving.

We all felt very COVID secure. Part 2 coming soon.