‘Resiliency at Sea’: Navy doctor ensures wellness is on deployed sailors’ agenda

One Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) doctor is bringing wellness practices to the routines of deployed sailors, hoping to bolster well-being at sea and on land.

“I’m really encouraging people to try something new,” said His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Montreal’s Medical Officer, Sabrina Dzafovic. “Adding physical activity, journaling, improving diet, doing yoga and meditating are all things I encourage.”

Those are some of the weekly habits Dzafovic is asking the deployed sailors to try out as part of a wellness challenge.

She hopes sailors lean into the recommendations to improve their mental, physical and spiritual health. Though, if health wasn’t enough, Dzafovic also has prizes in the form of staycations at hotels in Nova Scotia, dinners out and gift cards at sporting stores.

The title of the challenge, Resiliency at Sea is a play on the common term “Replenishment at Sea” (RAS), and Dzafovic’s attempt to help sailors cope with daily stressors, while maintaining their mental and physical health in a demanding environment.

“Week by week we’re just building upon healthy behaviours,” Dzafovic said. “As each week goes by, the challenges get slightly more difficult, or we ask more of the person. The hope is by the end of the deployment people will have added one or two of these behaviours to their repertoire.”

Dzafovic says a significant proportion of the crew is participating and she has already heard positive feedback from sailors who say her challenge has helped reduce some of the stigma associated with certain wellness practices like meditating, yoga, and journaling.

“I’m doing the challenges because I think it’s very important to work on your mental health, especially because, being away from your family and your loved ones, I know it can be very difficult,” said Sailor 1st Class John Muyano.

 “Some of the things I’ve done during the challenge is: exercising, a little bit of alone time, a little bit of reading, and meditating.”

The doctor believes the impacts of these simple daily practices run deeper than the few minutes each day she asks sailors to devote to their wellness.

She says that by prioritizing wellness, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) would likely see personnel with better health outcomes, more effective crews, and better retention rates.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that the CAF has a shortage of personnel, and for that reason, we’re asking more of our people,” she said. “Perhaps they’re not getting enough time off between deployments. We really need to pay attention to resiliency and maintaining optimal mental health.”

Dzafovic also says supplying sailors with the toolkit to take their wellness into their own hands offers a sense of control that is often lost at sea.

 “Through the wellness challenge, I was able to realize that it gives you another avenue for self-reflection,” said Master Sailor Aquiles Milaya.

“It looks so simple, but it improves your life overall aboard ship.”

When deployed, sailors sacrifice much of the control we normally exercise in our day-to-day lives.

“As adults we’re used to having control over a lot of choices, but in an operational ship you don’t have a lot. You’re told when you’re going to get up, when you’re going to sleep, when you’re going to eat, what you’re going to eat.”

These are luxuries we often take for granted, according to Dzafovic, make the lack of time and space to decompress even more apparent.

“We all have things in our daily lives we do to manage stress,” the doctor said. “Like meeting a friend for coffee, going to a café on a Sunday afternoon and listening to a podcast. People have ways that they manage stress, but the ways they might be used to are not attainable while on a ship.”

“That’s really why we have to be more purposeful in addressing our mental health at sea then we have to at home,” Dzafovic added.

Although she knows integrating small habits into daily routines makes a world of difference, Dzafovic knows her challenges can’t ask too much of the personnel who already receive limited downtime. But she believes if wellness was prioritized on all RCN ships, positive change would be widespread and palpable.

“It must be subtle. Sailors wouldn’t take it well if it’s just another thing they must do that takes away from personal time,” she said.

The wellness challenge is just one-way Dzafovic can instill change in the health of sailors under her care, and she says she’d like to see more wholistic approaches to the CAF approach to health.

She says she wants to see a curriculum for health and wellness implemented across the CAF and available at the earlies stages of application so people awaiting clearances or training are introduced to wellness before they are even fully integrated into the CAF.

“This would be a great opportunity to create healthy habits that will serve them throughout the rest of their lives and careers with the CAF,” Dzafovic said.

“We want them to be the best version of themselves, while also being effective for the CAF.”