The rail industry is coming together to build on our relationship with Samaritans; to volunteer one million hours to help Samaritans achieve their vision that fewer people die by suicide. We will provide more support for people experiencing emotional distress and aim to improve the mental health and wellbeing of rail industry employees.
Gemma, Project Leader based at Network Rail
Tasha, Project Management Officer based at Samaritans
The Office of Road and Rail, Rail Safety and Standards Board, MTR Elizabeth Line, Rail Delivery Group, Transport for London, British Transport Police, Genesse &Wyoming incl Freightliner, Alstom, SPL Powerlines, Ganymede, Chiltern Railway, Arriva London, Balfour Beatty, Nexus, CPMS, Hitachi, Transport for Wales, c2c, TransPennine Express, Govia Thameslink Railway, Systra, Crosscountry, Southeastern, East Coast Trains, ScotRail, VolkerRail, Linbrooke Services, Costain and Quinn Infrastructure.
Become a local ambassador in your organisation and lead the way. Engage your colleagues in the challenge or arrange regular morning teas to raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing within your organisation. You can use this PowerPoint presentation in your next team meeting to raise awareness of the challenge.
Raising awareness online is a key channel to reach out to the industry and promote the challenge. Becoming a social media champion is a simple but effective way to support Samaritans and the Million Hour Challenge.
Become your local branch champion by highlighting and promoting opportunities within your organisation, either via newsletters or in team meetings. Word of mouth is a simple but powerful way to support the challenge and make a difference.
Keep returning to this site for local volunteering opportunities, we’ll start advertising roles near you soon.
Look out for these leaflets that we have available.
There are lots of ways to take part in the Million Hour Challenge – from attending a training day or completing the online Samaritans toolkits, to holding an afternoon tea with colleagues to fundraising and raising awareness of mental health. Samaritans have a wide range of volunteer roles meaning there is something for everyone, including becoming a listening volunteer.
Branches require a variety of roles with varying time commitments including branch fundraising coordinator, social media and comms support, event organisation, community awareness, administration support, IT and web support, rota coordination and assisting with budgets.
