{"id":28342,"date":"2024-04-17T19:38:47","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T09:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=28342"},"modified":"2024-04-17T19:38:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T09:38:47","slug":"south-western-railway-to-go-the-extra-26-2-miles-for-samaritans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=28342","title":{"rendered":"South Western Railway to go the extra 26.2 miles for Samaritans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Railway workers are set to raise thousands of pounds for Samaritans<\/a> this April as they put on their running shoes to take on the\u00a02024 TCS London Marathon.<\/p>\n

South Western Railway\u2019s<\/a> runners are supporting\u00a0Samaritans after it was chosen as the event\u2019s official Charity Partner of the Year. They will not only be raising much-needed funds, but also awareness of the essential services the charity provides to people in crisis and needing support. Samaritans answers a call every 10 seconds from someone needing to be listened to.<\/p>\n

With one in five (20 per cent) people in the UK saying they have experienced suicidal thoughts1, at some point in their lives, which is the equivalent of around 10,000 of the anticipated 50,000 participants who will take part in this year\u2019s TCS London Marathon, the South Western Railway team know how important the work of Samaritans is.<\/p>\n

Train driver, Gemma Deedat from Fratton, Portsmouth, pledged to run for Samaritans following an incident on her route.<\/p>\n

The mother-of-two \u2013 who has worked in the rail industry for 11 years \u2013 hopes that by running for the charity, more people will see how vital Samaritans\u2019 services are.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI had not long come back from annual leave when the incident happened, and I\u2019d only been driving on my own for seven months. The British Transport Police, paramedics, and my train guard were really supportive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have chosen to run for Samaritans because I am hoping it will show that calling them to speak with someone can make all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samaritans\u2019 own findings2\u00a0show while 74% of people are comfortable talking with family and friends about mental health and wellbeing, only 45% are comfortable talking about suicidal thoughts, suggesting a stigma still exists around this specifically and discomfort in discussing it could be contributing to a lack of awareness and understanding of the issue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mel Rappini from Southampton used the Samaritans website to help her navigate tough conversations with loved ones who were struggling to cope. This inspired the HR Business Partner to fundraise for the charity.<\/p>\n

Mel, who is also a mother-of-two, said: \u201cSamaritans gives so much out to other people all the time, and I have used the information on its website to help support close friends and family who have previously been going through a tough time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was useful to understand how I can support them and know where they are coming from a little bit more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t necessarily about saying to someone, \u2018This is what you should do\u2019, because there may be no right answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor people to know Samaritans are there any time to listen, it allows them to ease some of the weight off their shoulders and talk openly about what they\u2019re going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trio of runners includes James Stearn, who works as a Duty Control Manager.<\/p>\n

James, from Surbiton, said: \u201cThrough my work in the control centre, I am well aware of the numbers of people who seek help through Samaritans and the great work they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cSamaritans support is not only as a voice in times of need, but also in training rail staff so that they feel confident to make interventions which could just save a life if someone is in crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel O\u2019Riordan, Head of Security and Safety Assurance at South Western Railway, said:\u00a0\u201cI am in awe of the work Samaritans do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked together for many years and the positive impact of our partnership is felt by colleagues, customers, and the communities we serve all around our network.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re committed to playing an active role in safeguarding everyone who uses the railway and ensuring everyone knows they are in a safe pair of hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us at SWR are very proud of everyone taking part in this year\u2019s marathon and will be cheering Gemma, Mel, and James every step of the way\u201d.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To donate to Gemma\u2019s fundraising page, go to:\u00a0https:\/\/2024tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com\/pf\/gemma-deedat<\/a><\/p>\n

To donate to Mel\u2019s fundraising page, go to:\u00a0https:\/\/2024tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com\/pf\/mel-rappini<\/a><\/p>\n

To donate to James\u2019 fundraising page, go to:\u00a0https:\/\/2024tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com\/pf\/jamesstearn<\/a><\/p>\n

1\u00a0McManus S, Bebbington P, Jenkins R, Brugha T. (eds.) (2016).\u00a0Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult psychiatric morbidity survey 2014\u00a0<\/a>\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

2The Opinium survey was conducted between 9-13th\u00a0February 2024, with a nationally representative sample of 2,001 UK adults.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Railway workers are set to raise thousands of pounds for Samaritans this April as they put on their running shoes to take on the\u00a02024 TCS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":28343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[7,11],"class_list":["post-28342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","tag-transport","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}