You’ll need to take your basic seamanship training to work on a commercial vessel, that will be a good start

Depends whether you want to be part of a ships crew, or have an auxilliary role. The crewmen need to be certified, at minimum as Ablebodied Seamen. However, there are plenty of ships that have additional personnel that technically aren’t part of the crew;
My current career started on a survey ship, and all I had was skills with IT, linux, heavy machinery, and a an affinity for DIY stuff. The company paid for the training courses necessary for me to be on board, working a 5week rotation. The certs you need are usually BOSIET and HUET, depending on the type of ship. I just remembered that I need to renew mine.

So what you want to ask yourself is this: Are you after a maritime career, or just any job on a ship? The first one requires STCW certifications. The second one requires a lot less.

NB: Smaller boats, such as private fishing vessels with much smaller crews may not require the above. I am unsure how they operate in this regard - I know people who’ve joined fishing vessels with little to no prior boating experience.

As it’s somewhat relevant, I’ll lazypaste a comment I made a while back after someone asked how life on a ship is like:

While I’m not an AB myself, I’ve worked on ships alongside them, so I’ve gotten a lot of insight into how the crews work.

The short answer is that it depends on your role. Basically, there are usually three or four types of crew on any ship:

• Bridge
• Deck
• Engineering
• Anyone else (me), on more specialized ships.

Bridge:
Responsible for the navigation, safety, comms, scheduling, and all procedural tasks with running a ship. There are always someone on the bridge at all times, and this person is in charge of everything. The captain is of course the senior officer, but his responsibility and authority is delegated when he’s off duty.

Deck:
It can be pretty chill, but there’s still a fuckton of tasks to do. Painting, chipping rust, inspections, maintenance, helping out bridge/engineering if they need it. Most people on the bridge or in engineering have been Deck crew (AB - Able-bodied Seaman) at some point.
I’ve also seen deck crew being responsible for grilling on Saturdays.

Engineering:
Everything to do with the engine, and overall mechanical functionality of the ship.

I intentionally left out the galley staff, as this varies a lot between ships. When it’s a big crew, like the ships I’ve been on, there’s a dedicated galley staff. On smaller crews, it can be the ABs’ job to serve up meals.

Source: Roughly 800 days logged offshore, spanning all continents except Antarctica and Oceania.

I don’t know anything about boats, but have a suggestion you may find helpful for a while.

Do you have anyone close who would be willing to take your gun/s for awhile? Just someone who could hold onto them until you feel better about having possession of them again?

Not the best solution to your problem, first off.

Since you have funds, take some proper sailing lessons and find some boat delivery jobs. It will be funner, more like contract work (a few weeks at a time), challenging and you can learn to sail! Eventually, you can build skills that let you live the sea gypsy life, a mere dream for most.

You should listen to most others here in the thread and seek professional help. That being said, it’s not always an option for some. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it (especially at this time), but since you’re in the US and have an interest in seafaring work, have you considered joining the Navy?

The medical benefits alone can be worth it, but your want for work kinda sounds like you want purpose and it provides that for a lot of people. You’re below the maximum age and so long as you can pass the physical requirements for your age and a drug test, waivers exist for most other criteria. No experience required.

Service comes with its own stresses as does life at sea, military or not. Be wary. Probably best to just see a doctor if you can.

As someone who has felt exactly the way you describe and am now on the other side of it, here’s my advice.

1. Do not give up or shy away from that feeling that you need to completely get away from your present surroundings. You don’t want to look back in 10 years and wish you had taken the opportunity when you could.
2. Don’t foolishly think that getting away like this will fix everything. It will help, but new problems will also emerge and if you haven’t addressed the demons in your head, you’ll never truly escape them. Therefore…
3. Get the treatment you need and make sure it works before you end up in the middle of nowhere with no options and no escape. The gun is only a concern because it’s convenient. When you’re desperate, anything becomes convenient. The ocean becomes convenient. Get your brain fixed.
4. If you already tried to get your head right and it’s not working, get to a state where Ketamine is legal and schedule an appointment at the clinic. It is life changing and worth every penny of the $2400 it costs.
5. See number one. Fucking do it!

Shit, just go fishing. I knew multiple young guys who simply went to Alaska and asked around. You’re going to be the greenhorn but if you want to work yourself to death it’s a good path.

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If it matters I live on south padre island but will relocate literally anywhere

If it helps I once worked 4 23 hour shifts in a row for dollar tree (inventory)