GB Railfreight has, once again, been successful at the annual Rail Business Awards after the Richard Hope Award was won by Human Resources Manager, Gemma Platt.

The award aims to mark peoples personal contribution in the rail sector and is named after the former Railway Gazette Editor, Richard Hope, who sadly passed away in October 2019.

Gemme set up a mental health programme and has sustained the morale of colleagues during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The project also included the training and appointment of Wellbeing Champions, who were volunteers within GB Railfreight that were trained by Suffolk MIND to act as support for staff who feel they need to talk to someone.

Wellbeing Champions have also launched the Mental Health Support App to improve overall wellbeing and allows people to stay connected during the pandemic.

Gemma was motivated to complete the project after losing her husband in 2019.

GBRf Managing Director John Smith said: “I want to extend my sincere congratulations to Gemma for winning the Richard Hope Award for her Outstanding Personal Contribution over the last year. Her success is something the whole GBRf team can be proud of.

“Gemma’s passion, professionalism and dedication, has empowered her to set up the ‘wellbeing champions/need to talk project’ and in turn has enabled GBRf to provide support surrounding mental health issues to their staff 24/7. Gemma has changed the focus of wellbeing within our company, and by using and drawing on her own personal adversity for the benefit of others, she has removed any stigma that may have existed around this very real topic.  Gemma has dedicated herself to encouraging awareness of wellbeing and mental health, and I couldn’t be prouder of her.”

Richard Hope Award winner Gemma Platt said: “It is such an honour to win this award and I want to thank the rest of the Wellbeing Champions at GBRf for making the Mental Health project the success it become. I couldn’t have done this without your passion and commitment.

“I look forward to working with this group to continue to help normalise conversation around mental health and provide the best support possible to our staff.”

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