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The Association for Aquatic Professionals by Aquatic Professionals
Legislative, Code & Standard of Care Updates
Association of Aquatic Professionals Legislative and Code Goals
The Association of Aquatic Professionals was created to be an association that exclusively promotes and advocates policies, practices and procedures that contribute to safer and improved aquatic education, aquatic recreation activities, programs, and facilities; provides and supports quality aquatic education opportunities; coordinates and conducts research in the field of aquatic management and safety; promotes coordination and cooperation between established aquatic associations responsible for all aspects of aquatic programming, aquatic management, aquatic operation and maintenance and aquatic facility design. Part of that goal is to keep the aquatic industry up to date on issues that affect how they run and operate their facilities.
Stay Up to Date on Current Code and Legislative Changes
Wage and Hour Division United States Department of Labor
Do you use 14-15 year old swim instructors or instructor aides / helpers? Did you know that the DOL requires them to be certified?
Fact Sheet # 60: Application of the Federal Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to the Employment of Lifeguards
CDC’s Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) is guidance to prevent injury and illness linked to aquatic venues — such as pools, hot tubs, and splash pads — open to the public. This guidance brings together the latest science and best practices to help jurisdictions save time and resources when they develop and update pool codes. Pool codes regulate how aquatic venues that are open to the public are designed, constructed, operated, and managed. These codes address topics such as how aquatic facilities are built, how lifeguards are trained and certified, and how chlorine levels in the water are tested.
The MAHC applies to aquatic venues open to the public. These venues can be operated by:
Hotels and motels
Apartment complexes
Homeowners’ associations
Membership clubs (for example, gyms)
Schools
Waterparks
CMAHC promotes health and safety for public swimming facilities in the U.S. A member-driven organization, CMAHC is unique as it exists exclusively to advocate, evolve, innovate, promote implementation, organize research in support of, and advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on needed updates to the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC).
Resilience First Aid (RFA) is a 2-day mental health certification that teaches strength-based skills to support resilience in others and build meaningful relationships. You will learn how to spot signs of low resilience in others, learn the language to talk proactively to people in need, and learn skills to help build their resilience. This makes Resilience First Aid a highly proactive approach to suicide prevention through building meaningful connections and skills to have impactful conversations.
Many people don’t know what protects mental health, how to talk about it and what resources and skills are available. This is what Resilience First Aid will teach you.
Members of the public can offer proactive first aid/advice and have a conversation to help build resilience.
Many people don’t realise how important their mental health is until they are suffering, and it affects their everyday life. We need to act now.
This is a new approach to put trained mental health champions in place who actively boost the resilience and mental health in their communities. The course does so by teaching an effective conversational method called the ALL Protocol, followed by a detailed understanding of the six domains of resilience, skills and functional features of each to notice in others, as well as practical language tools to have meaningful conversations.
In addition, participants are given access to ongoing tools and assessments to explore and build their own resilience to create sustainability of the teachings, alongside resources that help facilitate conversations and build awareness.
The skills learned through Resilience First Aid apply to all relationships – with family, with friends, with colleagues, and all other interactions. The ALL Protocol taught through the certification is highly useful and applicable in everyday life, with participants frequently experiencing daily occurrences where they notice themselves using the ALL Protocol. It’s simple, easy to remember, and builds relationships through a strength-based approach.
Participants also learn self-care tools to build their capacity to sustainably support both themselves and others, avoiding burnout and compassion fatigue. Through a comprehensive integration of materials, resources and training, Resilience First Aid provides a unique and neuroscience-based approach to proactively protect mental health.
Resilience First Aid (RFA) is built on the peer-reviewed Predictive 6 Factor Resilience Model (PR6), a comprehensive whole-body and brain resilience model that includes a validated psychometric assessment and detailed skills to proactively build resilience.
The PR6 model and skills-building approaches are used in research at various universities, including Harvard, University of San Francisco, Northwestern University, Boise State University, Northeastern University, Boston University, Coventry University, UNSW, and more. Over 500 clinicians and mental health practitioners also use the PR6 assessment and training in their practices as a validated approach. The PR6-based Driven Resilience training program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Prehospital Continuing Education (CAPCE), recognising the program’s leading approach in bringing the latest science-backed developments as a practical course that anyone can learn.
“Not only does the Driven Resilience program build important skills for EMS practitioners, the use of microtask learning represents an important innovation in the delivery of continuing education.”
Mark Terry, Chief Certification Officer
Ongoing research and peer-reviewed validation of the model and resilience training program have established the PR6 as a leading model and program with clinical effectiveness in building resilience as a proactive approach for mental health.
Research Findings on Resilience First Aid
Recent research conducted in 2024 further supports the efficacy of the RFA program. A pilot evaluation study demonstrated that RFA training significantly increases both personal resilience and peer support skills. Key findings from the study include:
Increase in Personal Resilience and Peer Support Skills: The study observed a 10.2% increase in personal resilience and an 11.3% increase in peer support skills immediately following the training, with these improvements persisting at the 4-week follow-up. The study utilised the PR6 scale, the New Helping Attitude Scale (NHAS), and the Mental Health Peer Support Questionnaire (MHPSQ) to measure changes.
Enhanced Interpersonal Skills and Composure: The most substantial improvements were noted in Interpersonal Skills (21.9% increase), Composure (17.2% increase), and Tenacity (14.7% increase) at the 4-week follow-up.
Suicide Prevention Skills: Participants’ ability to recognise suicide warning signs improved by 33.3%, highlighting RFA’s potential as a vital tool in suicide prevention efforts. The training also enhanced participants’ capacity to identify and reduce stigma (9.0% increase).
These findings underscore the potential of RFA as a primary preventative program designed to enhance peer support skills and mitigate suicide risks through a strength-based approach. By focusing on building interpersonal skills and understanding suicide warning signs among peers, RFA contributes significantly to early intervention and mental wellness within communities.
Resilience First Aid builds on deep research and validation by making the PR6 model accessible through certification training and additional resources that create lasting change and protection. This establishes Resilience First Aid with a strong science-based approach that enables meaningful assessment and potential for further validation and impact.
Getting certified in Resilience First Aid means you’ll learn about an existing set of science-based skills
How to proactively build mental wellness in others using the ALL Protocol
How to support others through six resilience domains (Vision, Composure, Reasoning, Health, Tenacity, Collaboration)
Language and conversational examples on how to talk proactively about mental health
How to respond when someone is struggling and refer to help if needed
Use a strength-based model to become a source of hope and optimism
How to connect meaningfully to support those around you, building lasting relationships
Practical insight into the neuroscience of resilience and how to apply this to support others as well as yourself
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