NAUI Afffiliate Partnership Contributes to Study on Relationship Between Diving and Treating PTSD

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NAUI Afffiliate Partnership Contributes to Study on Relationship Between Diving and Treating PTSD

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The partnership will help Neptune Warrior further its research on PTSD and diving. In addition, the partnership provides a baseline analysis on the veteran and helps to understand how preferences change over time with being in the dive program, while assisting in coaching and building a collaborative community.

Emergenetics is a psychometric tool that uses an assessment survey to measure the thinking and behavioral preferences of the individual. The tool was developed based on more than 30 years of brain research and continues to have an international influence in all industries. NAUI Instructor and founder of Neptune Warrior, Rob Anderson, is also a certified Emergenetics facilitator and was interested in understanding how the tool could be used in his diving program.

"While there are a lot of organizations that do some incredible things for our vets, I wanted something different,” said Anderson. “I didn't want a program that focused on certification and destination trips that might happen only once in a vet's life, I wanted something that was sustainable not only for us, but for the diver."

Neptune Warrior, a NAUI Professional Educator affiliate, is a non-profit in Idaho that works with veterans, police, and first responders to treat PTSD through diving. Its team is made up of veterans and public safety volunteers all certified through NAUI at the professional level.

Anderson created the diving program in Boise, Idaho, not well known for being a diving destination. His program centers around a three-pronged approach of diving, PTSD coaching, and community.

The psychometric tool is highly valuable for Neptune Warrior, affording them insight into a veteran's behavior preferences while coaching veterans in the areas of PTSD, conflict resolution, goal setting, and transitioning from military to civilian life. The confidential results provide valuable insight into how the coach can best understand the veteran and work together to meet expectations.

This last spring, the Emergenetics tool was used in a much more important way: understanding how to communicate and collaborate in the interdiction of suicide.

"I got a text from one of my divers at 3 a.m. It was pretty dark. He didn't want to talk or meet. I'm not a counselor; I'm a coach. This was out of my area of expertise. Fortunately, I had a profile on him, so I used that as a way to approach him through his thinking preferences and behavior attributes," said Anderson.

"We can see how the diver relates to the seven attributes and the spectrum they prefer to work in. Analytical, Conceptual, Structural, and Social are the four thinking preferences that we all have in combination to one degree or another. At the same time, we have these behavior attributes that include Expressiveness, Flexibility, and Assertiveness,” said Anderson. “Understanding how the vet responds, and more importantly, how his or her preferences can be perceived, is critical in transitioning to civilian life.”

To learn more about Neptune Warriors, visit http://neptunewarrior.org/ or email neptunewarrior22@gmail.com. For a full dive schedule, individuals can visit the events calendar of Neptune Warrior on Facebook.

Supporting the association overall, NAUI Affiliates are unique in the industry. NAUI values and encourages providing opportunities and locations where the standards of membership are supported. To find out how to become a NAUI Professional Educator, contact Jack Snively, Director of Business Development for NAUI, at jsnively@naui.org or call +1 813-628-6284.