Speaker Session at MEBAA Focuses on Mental Health

Addressing aviation’s mental health challenges worldwide

MD Onboard’s chief advisor of aeromedical services, Surendra Sodhi, will join King’s College London emeritus professor of mental health and cultural diversity Dinesh Bhugra on December 11 at MEBAA in Dubai to discuss mental health in aviation. Sodhi and Bhugra’s speaker session is at 2 p.m. Gulf Standard Time (GMT +4) and is titled, “Fly High, Stay Grounded—Navigating Mental Health in Aviation.”

In the U.S. earlier this year, the FAA updated its Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners (AME Guide) to streamline the AME decision-making process and to implement less restrictive guidelines for pilots with a history or diagnosis of anxiety, depression, or related conditions, provided they meet certain criteria—with more extensive review necessary for multiple conditions, certain medications, or a history of self-harm. And the focus on mental health is not limited to one country or culture, the aviation community worldwide is setting aside stigma and shining a light on the needs of the industry.

While airlines can offer support programs to employees, smaller business or private flight departments can lack the resources to implement them. To help fill the gap, the MD Onboard platform, part of established telehealth company Northwell Health, launched earlier this year as a remote aviation medical advisory service and is now expanding to new markets, including the Middle East. MD Onboard’s proprietary app connects crews directly with paramedics for triage during in-flight emergencies. It also trains crew in effective communication with medical personnel during an emergency.

“Paramedics spend all day dealing with triaging these types of issues, however, the crew doesn’t,” says MD Onboard CEO Grant Jeffery, “and so you could potentially operate for 15 years as a pilot and not have an in-flight medical issue, particularly in business aviation and general aviation, because your number of passengers or principals is small by definition.” While crews undergo mandatory first aid training, they may not have the confidence to respond to an emergency. “So a big part of the service we provide is giving crews the confidence to act and respond,” Jeffery added.

The company also aims to offer comprehensive mental health support to pilots, cabin crew, ATC, and tech personnel. Those traveling globally or living as expats experience particular stressors and pressures and may lack a personal support network to give them advice. Issues could start with young crew members mismanaging personal finances or simply facing stress and not having friends or family to lean on to vent.

Not having to face the potential loss of a certificate (along with the job and stability that can come with that) for routine mental health issues has opened the door for aviation professionals to seek help before things spiral out of control. The next challenge is overcoming deeply ingrained stigma about seeking mental health treatment.

“That is going to still take some time,” says Sodhi about the stigmas still challenging aviation culture and reluctance to seek treatment. “This requires addressing it with education,” he said, to make getting mental treatment as much of a no-brainer as getting to the doctor immediately if you have a wound. “You wouldn’t wait for a physical wound to fester, and it’s important to seek timely care for stressors and mental issues as well.”

Sodhi also emphasizes that it is “normal to be abnormal.” Among the global population, about one in eight people experience some sort of mental health challenge at any given time (with some recovering and some facing new issues). And, he noted, we would expect aviation professionals, as members of the human population, to experience issues at roughly the same rates.

This article was Originally Published by Aviation International News