SSI Stress & Rescue Diver

What is Stress & Rescue

The SSI Diver Stress & Rescue specialty is a diver training course that goes beyond basic scuba skills. It teaches you how to:

• Recognize diver stress before it turns into more serious problems
• Prevent accidents through good decision making, proper planning, and situational awareness
• Handle emergency and rescue skills — helping other divers, managing incidents, doing rescues both in confined water (pool) and open water environments 

It’s broadly similar to the “Rescue Diver” courses in other agencies, but its name emphasizes both stress management and rescue.

What You’ll Learn / Key Skills

Here are the main topic areas and skills you’ll develop:

• Awareness: spotting signs of stress in yourself and in your dive buddy (panic, fatigue, breathing problems, etc.)
• Prevention: dive planning, gear setup, buddy checks, managing environmental factors (currents, visibility, depth)
• Rescue techniques: assisting panicked divers, performing tows, handling unresponsive divers at surface and underwater, management of missing diver situations, etc. 
• Emergency response: first aid basics, possibly CPR / oxygen etc. (often via prerequisite or concurrent React Right / First Aid) 
• Search – patterns and procedures to locate a missing diver (surface or underwater) 
• Self rescue: how to help yourself first, manage your own stress / fatigue under pressure 

Prerequisites & Requirements

To enroll in Stress & Rescue, usually you need:

• Open Water Diver certification (or equivalent) already completed. 
• Valid First Aid / CPR / React Right certification, typically within the last 24 months. Some dive centers allow you to do React Right first or together bundled with Stress & Rescue. 
• Minimum age is often 12 years and up (though some restrictions may apply to minors). 

Duration, Sessions & Depth

What you can expect in terms of sessions, timing etc:

What to Expect in the Course

• Mixture of dry academics (reading or online learning), theory, and plenty of practical sessions in pool/confined water. Then applying what you learned in open water dives. Skills are practiced in realistic scenarios: e.g. rescuing panicked diver on surface; unresponsive diver underwater; missing diver; managing fatigue; emergency first aid; stress prevention. 
• Physical / mental demands: staying calm under pressure, managing equipment, possibly swimming or towing in water, sometimes simulating emergencies. It pushes your ability to respond. But instructors guide through gradually.

Why It’s Useful

• Safety: You’re better prepared for emergencies — both in assisting others and handling unexpected situations yourself.
• Confidence: Knowing what to do in case something goes wrong reduces panic, improves decision making under stress.
• Better diving overall: Observing others’ stress, being aware, planning better, managing your own stress etc tends to make all your dives safer and more enjoyable.
• Needed for advanced / leadership paths: Many dive shops, advanced certifications (e.g. Divemaster or instructor) require Rescue / Stress & Rescue.