Making journeys brighter for those who need it

by Richard Clinnick

A splash of extra colour has been brought to seven stations across Britain thanks to Network Rail’s Brighter Journeys campaign, which is designed to make the stations brighter, happier community hubs.

The campaign aims to bring the outside onto the station through colourful flowers in bloom which will greet passengers as they travel through. This is a joint initiative between Network Rail and the mental health charity, Chasing the Stigma, which aims to support passengers’ wellbeing as they return to the railway following the lifting of COVID restrictions.

These installations act as a pleasant surprise for passengers and are designed to lift people’s spirits and put smiles on their faces as they go about their business.

Research reveals that interacting with nature puts people in a more positive mindset, making them feel calmer.

Using these sensory techniques is designed to make people feel happier and more connected with their local station while also raising awareness of the Hub of Hope app, which signposts people to more than 4,000+ support services if they are struggling with their mental health.

New data released by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) reports that 70 per cent of UK adults say their mental health has been negatively affected by the pandemic. Worryingly, 19 per cent describe their mental health as poor.

Sadly, almost 250 people ended their lives on the railway last year, equating to one such death every 35 hours. Most at risk are 30-50-year-old white, British men, with 80 per cent of rail suicides in 2019/20 carried out by men. However, since the pandemic this has begun to change slightly, with more younger people and more women seeing the railway as somewhere to end their life.

Louise McNally, Network Rail suicide and trespass prevention lead said that the whole point of the Brighter Journeys campaign was about finding those people in crisis before they get to the point of seeing the railway as a way to end their life and to get help. “We have people with mental health concerns that are coming to the railway and they’re not necessarily suicidal, but they are still coming to the railway as a cry for help,” she said.

“What we’re trying to do is use the Hub of Hope because a lot of people just don’t know where to go, they don’t know how to access the system. This is hopefully providing them with that information in a really simple way and publicising it as much as we can so that they do know where to find the help that they need. It’s really important.

“You literally just put in your postcode and it lists all of the support services in your area. So, it’s a really simple system.”

Seven stations are involved in this year’s campaign: London Liverpool Street, Leeds, Edinburgh, Birmingham New Street, Stevenage, East Croydon and Cardiff Central. Louise says the idea was to involve as many stakeholders as possible. The stations were also chosen where not just suicide has been a problem, but mental health-related trespass incidents have been taken into account. “We’re trying to deal with both types of incidents because not everybody who comes to the railway with mental health concerns or issues is necessarily thinking about ending their life,” she said.

Louise and her team are keen to spread the message too, and for it to last beyond the end of Mental Health Awareness week. There are regular calls with the routes as well as getting the local rail community involved. “We try to involve as many people as we can, and we want stations to have that thought process to make their stations happier, more community-led places. We would like to see stations taking the thought process and continuing because stations can be happy places all year long.”

Nevertheless, people are going to come to the stations. The anonymity of them is seen as attractive for those in crisis Louise said. But she also pointed out that in the past 12 years – working closely with Samaritans – some 25,000 rail industry staff have been trained to intervene to help distressed people. She said there are certain characteristics people know to look for. “Usually somebody lingering on the end of the platform who, after the train has gone, is still there. There are certain behaviours that you can look out for. People are nervous that they’re worried about making things worse. And actually, if somebody is in crisis, it’s really hard to make the situation worse than it already is.

“It is about giving people the confidence to intervene and know that they’re not going to make the situation worse, but also give them some guidance so that they can have that conversation with somebody. The point is to get them from where they are to a place of safety. That’s the intention but it’s really effective. It really does make a difference. And, you know, we have people that make interventions on multiple occasions actually, because they’ve had that training and they know what to do.”

Louise said that other parts of the network are beginning to get aboard. “Some are putting in floral displays of their own and there are living walls being installed. Obviously there’s always the training. There are posters on display and I actually walked through Euston station and heard the ‘Small Talk Saves Lives’ announcement.”

Louise also said that the campaign works. She said people have written to Network Rail saying how the campaign had saved their life, but also that traffic through the Hub of Help app since the relationship was created has risen dramatically. “We know that is because of the relationship with Network Rail and the rail industry, so we know that more people are seeking help and using that resource which is absolutely key that’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve.”

• The Hub of Hope app is free to download and use and is free for organisations to register. It is available from the App Store, Play Store and via www.hubofhope.co.uk. Mashbo works continually with the charity to develop the app in response to need and has created an iFrame that enables the app to be embedded seamlessly in third party sites, as well as creating admin access for third parties which allows them to update listings on the site directly.
• The app is also the foundation of the charity’s Ambassador of Hope training, which focuses on how to talk about mental health, how to effectively signpost those who need help to appropriate support and how to deal with a mental health crisis.
• For further information about Chasing the Stigma visit: www.chasingthestigma.co.uk

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