This year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week was ‘moving more for our mental health’. The benefits of regular exercise to both our physical and mental health are well known. Regularly moving your body and getting your heart rate up can increase your energy levels, improve your sleep, positively impact your mood, as well as reduce anxiety and stress. 

Research has also shown that connecting with nature, be it in parks, forests, or beaches, can have a positive impact on our wellbeing. Being in nature has been found to reduce anxiety and depression. 

A moment for movement

Using this knowledge to underpin their approach, Hull Trains designed a campaign called ‘Moment for Movement’. Their aim was to bring mental health, movement, and nature together, to encourage their staff, customers and local communities to get outside and move more. Richard Salkeld, Head of Partnerships and Communications at Hull Trains, who led the campaign, tells us more.

‘Mental health is so important to support so we wanted to do something to positively support colleague mental health as well as our customers and audiences on social media. We thought about how we can bring together these different elements to have a really positive impact during mental health awareness week.’

Making it happen

As a result, Hull Trains created a series of videos in collaboration with their charity partners, The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. The videos showcase six local nature spots to encourage people to go outside, go for a walk, and take in the beautiful surroundings. Richard shares, ‘We thought “why not celebrate the local beautiful nature reserves that are near our stations and are very accessible to the majority of people?”. We thought about how we can present the spaces to audiences who are local to Yorkshire and Humberside in a way that is inspiring and engaging’.

To really bring the campaign to life, Hull Trains asked regional weather presenter Jon Mitchell to present the videos. Having presented the weather for the Yorkshire region, John was a familiar face to colleagues and the community. Richard shares, ‘John was very keen to support. He is somebody who viewers in the local community would recognise, relate to, and warm to immediately. He was also energised at the concept of promoting positive mental health and wellbeing.’

When it comes to normalising mental health conversations and reducing stigma, using someone high-profile that people respect can go a long way. Richard agrees, ‘It’s such a sensitive issue and it’s really important to get the messaging right and in terms of what it’s trying to achieve. Jon was passionate about it for all the right reasons- he is someone who cares about the region and has knowledge of the area and who people could relate to’. 

Sharing in success

Hull Trains shared a new video each day of Mental Health Awareness Week on social media. The posts received higher than average engagement on external and internal channels. 

Another benefit of the campaign was that it gave people an opportunity to do something simple to help their mental wellbeing. ‘It wasn’t a really overt call to action that was preachy or instructive’ Richard says, ‘it was just a simple and gentle encouragement’. 

Mental Health Awareness Week has helped demonstrate simple things people can do to stay well, but often people still struggle to make the time to do it. The Hull Trains campaign has tried to simplify this by showing colleagues and the local community places that are easy to access. 

‘The campaign was a way of giving support and inspiration about how close these beautiful places are that are so tranquil and are on their doorstep. It is genuinely surprising how within a short distance you could be somewhere that would be devoid of traffic noise and any of the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life. It was about holding a mirror up to local locations to encourage colleagues and customers to think about taking some time out to visit these places’. Richard has since received feedback. Some said that before the videos they had no idea a certain location was less than five minutes away from them. Seeing the video encouraged them to visit. 

Make it meaningful, keep it simple

Advice for other rail organisations who might want to run a similar campaign? Make it meaningful, but keep the messaging simple. ‘You can overthink these things but the key to this campaign was simplicity’. Although the concept was simple, a lot of thought and planning went into the logistics. For example, drawing on elements that are known to have benefits to mental health to underpin the campaign, collaborating with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, identifying the various locations and using a local celebrity to engage a wider audience. ‘Start conversations and the ideas will follow. Meaningful conversations will also help contribute to a more positive work environment. Perhaps consider results of employee surveys to better understand and assess the needs, perceptions, and concerns of employees. This will help make your campaign especially relevant and engaging.’

Finally, Richard notes that consistency is key. ‘Sustain the effort throughout the year and continue conversations and sharing resources available. This will typically reflect in employee engagement scores, enjoyment of colleagues being able to be themselves at work, and hopefully reduce stigma around mental health. Why not start a conversation with a colleague today?’

Following the campaign, Hull Trains was awarded the ‘Great Place to Work’ Award at the National Rail Awards in September 2024. Judges praised the inclusive culture, overall staff engagement at 83% in the most reject survey and staff feeling valued in their work for the open access operator.