Saturday saw the unveiling during the Direct Rail Services Open Day of the newly named Locomotive Carlisle Eden Mind.
David Peattie, Chief Executive of DRS parent company, was on hand to perform the unveiling, along with Henry Barker from Carlisle Eden Mind Trustee Board.
David Peattie spoke about the need to for us all to find ways of opening up about mental health issues and the importance of these issues to the company he leads.
Henry Barker said that ‘The naming of the loco serves to not only underline DRS commitment in this area but also the developing partnership between Carlisle Eden Mind and DRS aroundde stigmatising and promoting positive mental health practices across their network.’
Currently DRS are working towards signing the Time to Change pledge, which seeks to normalise mental health conversations and practices within the workplace.
Latest figures from 2016/17 indicate 273 people took there lives on railways in the UK. This figure is not only too high but does not measure the enormous impact such deaths has on families, staff and the general public. By normalising the way we talk about mental health, educating staff in workplaces and the general public about mental health illness, we hope that this figure will fall.
