Building confidence to travel independently - to reconnect with family, friends and communities
Back on Track
reconnecting people
How we help our customers and community reconnect with the people important in their lives
Our Ambassadors Team
Our Community Ambassadors are a team of local people working in the community. They provide and facilitate Accessibility Trips to show people how to use the DLR and promote the benefits of using it. Ambassadors assist service users to travel confidently and independently on the railway. The community ambassadors are trained to work with a variety of individuals and groups with a range of accessibility needs. Through accessibility trips, the ambassadors can accompany individuals/groups on the DLR network and provide relevant training and familiarisation of the DLR routes.
These trips provide the support needed to encourage users unfamiliar with the network to travel independently and confidently.
The Community Ambassador programme includes liaising with the local community through schools, community groups and local businesses to provide travel advice and assistance.
The team enhance the lives of hard to reach groups including those experiencing mental health challenges, elderly, disabled and foreign speaking residents.
If you would like to try out the service, DLR Community Ambassadors can arrange an accessibility trip for you if you have any concerns about using the DLR. They can meet you at your local station, explain all aspects of using the service and accompany you on your first trip and more if needed.
To find out more contact ambassadors@keolisameydlr.co.uk
Further information available on TfL website
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/dlr/dlr-ambassadors
Our partnership with NHS
Welcome to Back on track!
By Ruth Crawford – Community Mental Health Nurse
Whatever time of day or month you are reading this I am guessing you have a question – What does a transport company know about Mental health and wellbeing?
Here at the Docklands light railway, the operator Keolis Amey Docklands has a partnership with NHS East London Foundation Trust (ELFT), called Back on Track. Our aim is to work with people who live in Tower Hamlets and Newham to enable them access the DLR network safely and with confidence, recovering or developing the skills needed to travel independently for work, college and leisure activities.
I am a Community Mental Health Nurse from the trust based at the DLR and we accept self-referrals and referrals from professionals.
To mark World Mental Health Day 2020, we are Re-connecting with users of the railway.
Celebrating World Mental Health Day is one of the several events we have held on the DLR network where we talk about and promote wellbeing and the importance of connection.
As a Community Mental Health Nurse, my role is to focus not just on illness but improving and maintaining wellness. This affects everyone from the oldest to the youngest. Evidence suggests there are 5 steps you can try to aid your mental health and wellbeing.
Connect with other people. Good relationships are important for good mental wellbeing.
Be physically active
Learn a new skill
Give to others
Pay attention to the present moment.
To find out more, visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/improve-mental-wellbeing
Trust me, I am aware it’s not always easy to follow these steps and more at this time, but there are still ideas which we can all share. Can you think of any?
Our partnership with Youmanity
Youmanity is a charity based in London, the aim of which is to celebrate equality, support social inclusion and promote human rights.
With this in mind, Youmanity devise sand delivers cultural projects throughout the year. Now in its 10th year, their annual photography award is designed to raise awareness of important social issues.
Participants from all over the world submit photographs that tell important human stories. The most outstanding photographs are selected and showcased in on-line exhibitions. Themes explored so far include human trafficking, social identity, gender discrimination, age discrimination and mental health.
Over the past ten years Youmanity has produced several educational short films, which convey powerful and positive content to a wide audience. Celebrating the importance of cultural diversity and social inclusion, The Windrush Generation is a film that traces the arrival of the Afro-Caribbean community in the UK. All films are made available to the public, charities and NGOs via Youmanity’s social media channels.
With education at the forefront, Youmanity is championing a pioneering project to develop a more inclusive student-centred teaching approach. Funded by the European Commission, the 2Smile Project aims to care for youths at risk of abandoning education.
To date Youmanity’s projects have received the patronage of Amnesty International, the European Commission, the British Council, the International Organisation for Migration, the Metropolitan Police and the Royal Photographic Society.
Youmanity is run entirely by volunteers and an unpaid Board of Directors, as outlined in page thirteen.
Our partnership with
St Mungo’s
Who is our Charity Partner?
For over 50 years, St Mungo’s has been at the forefront of efforts to tackle homelessness. Each night their 17 outreach teams go out to help people sleeping rough to move away from the streets, and provide a bed and support to over 2,850 people. They work to prevent homelessness and support people at every step of their recovery from homelessness.
St Mungo’s pioneered many of the innovative services that are now part of homelessness sector practice and projects, including the first specialist project solely for people sleeping rough with a mental illness; the first specialist project solely for people sleeping rough with a history of alcohol misuse; the only specialist project solely for older people with a long history of rough sleeping and, more recently, the first Recovery College in the homelessness sector.
St Mungo's Recovery College offers a safe and friendly environment for clients to learn, make friends and progress with their recovery.