Why offshore men don’t get help
Mental health support tailored to offshore & maritime lifestyles.
You’re not hard to reach - support just never fitted the rotation. Every mainstream therapy model assumes you’re in the same place at the same time every week. You’re not. So the strain builds hitch after hitch, and the industry answer - a poster in the mess, an EAP number nobody calls - was never going to touch it.
Navigating shift rotations and isolation
Rotation isolation is its own load: the same faces, the same corridors, the missed birthdays and school runs stacking up in the background. Weekly therapy can’t hold that. Support has to travel with the rotation or it doesn’t exist.
Managing high-stress environments
Offshore is a high-stakes, high-pressure workplace where disclosure feels like a liability - to your ticket, your next trip, your standing on the crew. So the stress stays down. Private, independent support means the culture never has to know you’re doing the work.
Reintegrating with family on shore leave
The version of you that runs a shift offshore and the version your family gets at home drift further apart every trip. The first 48 hours of shore leave - the decompression whiplash - is where most of the damage happens, and it’s exactly when nobody’s offering help.
Why me
Industry-specific expertise: oil & gas, renewables, and maritime.
Former offshore medical recruiter turned therapist.
Before counselling, I recruited offshore medics - years spent inside the crewing world of rigs, vessels, and installations. I know what a mobilisation email does to a Sunday night, what OGUK medicals and MIST tickets are, and what “3 on 3 off” actually means for a marriage. You won’t spend the first three sessions explaining your industry to me.
The practice already works with skippers and maritime crew, and it’s based in Southport - PR8 and PR9 - where a good share of the men on any North Sea or Irish Sea rotation come home to. In person on your leave, secure video on your hitch, wherever the job has you.
And when the load is heavier than stress - I’m an ASIST-trained Suicide First Aider. Whatever you’re carrying, it’s within scope, not too much for the room.
Practitioner
Chris Brotherton, MNCPS (Acc.) - NCPS Accredited Registrant. Supervised, insured, ICO registered.
Industry background
Years recruiting offshore medics for O&G, renewables, and maritime operators. Current clients include skippers and crew.
Confidentiality
Fully private and independent. Nothing reported to employers, crewing agencies, or occupational health. Encrypted notes, identified by initials only.
Formats
Secure video or phone worldwide, in person in Southport town centre, or mixed. Sessions scheduled around comms windows, time zones, and crew change.
Availability
Evening and weekend slots. Priority response for retained clients, including mid-hitch.
Three ways in
Flexible therapy packages for offshore shift rotations.
Weekly therapy assumes a weekly life. These don’t. Each is priced in conversation once we’ve mapped it to your actual rotation - no rate card, no packages forced onto a life they don’t fit.
The Rotation Retainer: priority continuous support
One arrangement across the whole cycle.
- —Priority secure-video sessions while offshore, scheduled around your comms windows and time zone
- —An intensive face-to-face block in the first days of each leave period, before home life absorbs you
- —Structured voice-note and message support between sessions, answered within one working day
- —A standing monthly arrangement with a strictly limited number of places
Retainer terms agreed in conversation.
The Leave Intensive: focused therapy ashore
The work done hard and fast, inside one leave period.
- —A compressed block of four to six sessions across two weeks of leave
- —Front-loaded so the work lands before your next mobilisation, not half-finished at crew change
- —In person in Southport, secure video, or a mix
- —An optional single check-in call mid-hitch to hold the line offshore
Block terms agreed in conversation.
Asynchronous & secure digital counselling
Support that works around comms windows and time zones.
- —Secure video or phone sessions from the rig, vessel, or cabin - scheduled around your comms windows
- —Structured voice-note and message support where a live call isn’t workable mid-hitch
- —A focused Single-Session Deep Dive bookable at short notice for one pressing problem - the marriage conversation, the drinking pattern, the dread before crew change
- —No commitment to anything further - each session stands on its own
See Single-Session Therapy for how a single focused session works.→
Confidential therapy for men in high-stakes offshore roles.
Discretion is the default.
No waiting room. No one on the crew knows. Sessions run from a cabin, a car, a spare room, or my practice in Southport - wherever you actually are. Your employer, your crewing agency, and occupational health hear nothing, because there is nothing that reports to them.
Notes are encrypted and identified by initials. Your name appears in no marketing, no case studies, no testimonials. What’s said in the work stays in the work, within the narrow legal limits every therapist carries - explained plainly before you start, not buried in small print.
Mettle is a small private practice by design - one practitioner, a deliberately limited caseload, direct contact with me rather than a booking system. For men whose careers depend on their reputation for handling it, that structure is the point.
Mettle is not a crisis service. In immediate danger, call 999 - and at sea, your vessel’s emergency procedures come first. Samaritans are free on 116 123, any hour, from any phone.
FAQs: therapy for remote and offshore workers.
Can I do sessions from the rig or vessel?+
What happens when my rotation changes?+
Will anyone at my company know?+
Will counselling affect my offshore medical or certs?+
I’m not in crisis - is this still for me?+
For offshore, O&G, renewables, and maritime men
Start with one conversation.
Tell me your rotation pattern and what’s going on - as much or as little as you want. I’ll reply within one working day, including when you’re on shift, and we’ll work out which way in actually fits your cycle. No obligation, and no pressure to book anything.
Or call 01704 660167. Discretion from the first message.