Alongside Mental Health Awareness week (9-15 May) colleagues were at London Liverpool St station promoting mental health awareness. Some really important conversations were had and positive feedback received.

Led by the embedded mental health nurse for the Anglia route and supported by Mind in City & Hackney and Waltham Forest, City of London Police Triage Nurse, MTR Elizabeth Line Safeguarding Manager and community ambassadors, Network Rail, Land Sheriffs, and people from East London NHS Foundation Trust who have had inpatient/community care and now help to develop services and for whom taking part in activities like this can form part of their recovery journeys.

Everyone who engaged with the team took away a copy of the ‘Information and helplines to support your well-being’ All On Board directories. These list services relating to addiction, bereavement, domestic violence, financial problems, housing difficulties, mental health conditions and suicidal thoughts. They also offer general well being advice and a ‘safety plan’; an evidence based intervention to reduce the risk of suicide.

This is part of a commitment to recognising and addressing risk factors for suicide; reaching in to our communities and promoting early intervention. Perhaps more than ever, knowledge about what resources are available to support someone experiencing hardship are vital.

Conversations included signposting a member of staff to mental health services, someone who said that because of the conversation they had they would go home and tell their family that they are accessing help, and the poignant exchange with someone who said they ‘wished’ that their spouse had seen this on the day he tragically took his life.