A moment that changed me: a scuba dive gone horribly wrong taught me the dangers of complacency

I was working on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef, when two crewmates began a 20-minute dive. Hours later, with rescue helicopters circling, there was still no sign of them

Twenty years ago, I took six months out from my NHS job as a psychologist to embark on a round-the-world trip. But, when I fell in love with scuba diving and took a job as a cook on a dive boat on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia, I called my boss in England to tell her I wouldn't be coming back.

After two days based at the diving school, the students would board a boat for a three-day trip. It was me they came to with their worries: Are there sharks on the reef?"; Are they dangerous?"; Is it pitch black on a night dive?" I was the cook, but my psychology skills were put to good use.