Ami Burns – Crew coming to me to talk about their worries
But it’s good for the soul and I always say to the team, you know, take an exercise book with you and write back to your family and you have control of what you show them, so you know, when you’re having a bad day and you’re hating, you know you’re hating the Navy or you think your partner’s left you, you can say, “I don’t understand why you’ve left me, I haven’t done anything wrong.” It doesn’t mean you have to necessarily show them this letter but it gets it off your chest.
And it’s, it’s a mental health aid really.
Simon: Yeah, you’re not bottling it up, it’s released.
Because guys don’t talk about anything other than … and they’re really good at, they don’t talk about anything alongside but funny, when you go to sea they might do. That was one thing I think I noticed and some people have commented on this since … it may be that I’m more approachable but Goodness me, I get a lot of people coming to talk to me because I’m a woman.
And they feel comfortable coming and talking about some of those worries at sea, which is lovely because it means that they’re getting it off their chest, and you get another perspective, you know, there’s less judgement maybe.
Or perceived less judgement. They assume that their male counterparts might not be quite so well receiving of something that’s a bit more emotionally challenged.
And so, you know, I always say, the Tech office door is always open. If I’m sitting in there, come and have a brew and we’ll talk and I’ll tell you how ridiculous you are (laughs).
Simon: But in a nice way?
But then I will rely on you, yeah, I will rely on you in three weeks to tell me how ridiculous I am.