Diving rehabilitation charity Deptherapy is is now a member of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in England.
This announcement comes at the start of an exciting year for Deptherapy in which the charity will introduce more injured ex-servicemen to the benefits of diving than ever before.
Joining the 12,500-member NCVO is an important step for the charity and shows its commitment to building the strongest foundations for the future.
NCVO membership will give Deptherapy access to resources and expertise that will help the organization maximize the potential for disabled divers.
As part of its NCVO membership, Deptherapy has also committed to gaining accreditation using the Practical Quality Assurance System to obtain the PQASSO Quality Mark. To earn that nationally-recognized award, which is endorsed by the Charity Commission, Deptherapy will undertake a vigorous assessment program over the next 12 months.
Dr. Richard Cullen, Founder and Chairman of Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education explains:
“Working towards the PQASSO Quality Mark is important to us as both a means of analysis and a way to continuously improve the quality of our service. Our eventual achievement of the Quality Mark will offer external verification of the robustness of our charity and will demonstrate that we have systems and processes in place that are fit for purpose and meet the highest standards.”
In addition to this behind-the-scenes work, 2017 will see Deptherapy get an unprecedented number of injured ex-servicemen into the water. Places on the Deptherapy courses are in high demand and the charity will run two Open Water and Advanced Open Water programs at Roots Red Sea in May and October this year.
These programs are mostly funded by Deptherapy’s partnership with the Royal Foundation’s Endeavour Fund and will cater to 20-25 divers. This funding has also resulted in the purchase of several drysuits to allow more experienced program members to start diving in waters off the UK and progress their continuing education.
