Virgin Trains partners with Mental Health Foundation to highlight the importance of mental health

Virgin Trains on the West Coast has joined forces with Mental Health Foundation (MHF) to increase awareness of mental health and wellbeing amongst its customers and 3,400 West Coast employees.

The partnership, announced today, will see the West Coast Mainline operator focus its responsible business agenda, community activities and fundraising on mental health. This will include local activities which promote mental health, joint campaigning with MHF and, at a corporate level, staff development and training.

The move comes following a vote amongst the train operator’s employees, who chose MHF and highlighted mental health, suicide and a range of related issues, such as homelessness, loneliness and cyber-bullying, as social issues of concern.

Simarjeet Kaur, Head of Responsible Business at Virgin Trains, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with the Mental Health Foundation and providing our support to its important work. We know that mental health affects everyone and we hope that, by getting involved, we can help to increase understanding of mental health and start to address some of the stigma associated with it.”

Jenny Edwards CBE, Chief Executive of Mental Health Foundation said: “The Mental Health Foundation is excited to be working with Virgin Trains to both raise the profile of workplace wellbeing and vital funds for our research. Their commitment to promoting the emotional wellbeing of their staff and customers is to be applauded. That such an important company, and a household name, is committed to putting mental health at the heart of its business reflects the increasing importance and awareness of the need to promote good mental health for all. This is crucial because we know there is a strong link between a good working environment and sustaining good mental health.”

“It’s fantastic that the partnership will work with staff, supply chains, customers and communities. We are looking forward to reaching millions of people across the network while developing our wider charitable objectives through the opportunities and direct support Virgin Trains is able to offer us.”

The partnership will kick off with a major burst of activity during Mental Health Awareness Week (May 16-22) which, this year, focuses on the theme of relationships and connection.

ENDS

For further information contact:

Virgin Trains on 0845 000 3333 or viapress.desk@virgintrains.co.uk

Mental Health Foundation (Cal Strode) on 020 7803 1110 or Cstrode@mentalhealth.org.uk

About Virgin Trains

Stagecoach and Virgin are working in partnership to operate the East Coast and West Coast inter-city routes under the Virgin Trains brand. Together, they are on track to revolutionise rail travel across the UK.

The combined network connects some of the nation’s most iconic destinations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, York and London.

Virgin Trains is committed to delivering a high speed, high frequency service, offering shorter journey times, more comfortable travel and excellent customer service. Customers consistently rate Virgin Trains as one of the top long-distance rail franchise operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) commissioned by industry watchdog, Transport Focus.

On the East Coast route, £140m is being invested to create a more personalised travel experience. This includes a major fleet revamp, smarter stations and exciting new routes. From May 2016, there will be 42 additional services (22,000 extra seats) per week between Edinburgh and London.2018 will see the introduction of completely new Azuma trains being built in the UK by Hitachi.

The West Coast route has a proud record of challenging the status quo - from introducing tilting Pendolino trains, to a pioneering automated delay repay scheme and becoming the first franchised rail operator to offer m-Tickets for all ticket types.

Visit the Virgin Trains Media Room - http://mediaroom.virgintrains.co.uk - for the latest news, images and videos. Subscribe here for regular news from Virgin Trains.

Press Office: 0845 000 3333.

The Mental Health Foundation

Good mental health for all

Our mission is to help people understand, protect and sustain their mental health.

Prevention is at the heart of what we do, because the best way to deal with a crisis is to prevent it from happening in the first place. We inform and influence the development of evidence-based mental health policy at national and local government level. In tandem, we help people to access information about the steps they can take to reduce their mental health risks and increase their resilience. We want to empower people to take action when problems are at an early stage. This work is informed by our long history of working directly with people living with or at risk of developing mental health problems.

The Mental Health Foundation is a UK charity that relies on public donations and grant funding to deliver and campaign for good mental health for all.

Websitewww.mentalhealth.org.uk

Twitter@mentalhealth

Facebook www.facebook.com/mentalhealthfoundation