Kevin Hines speaks in front of area high school students Monday, Sept. 18, for his presentation “The Art of Wellness” at the Arbogast Performing Arts Center in Troy for mental health awareness month.
Eamon Baird | Miami Valley Today
By Eamon Baird
TROY — At the age of 19 Kevin Hines decided to end his life by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge on Sept. 25, 2000. After miraculously surviving the fall, Hines made it his life’s work to educate and inform the public about his cause with his slogan, “Be Here Tomorrow.”
Now Hines travels the country to share his message to help those who are struggling with mental health issues and suicidal thoughts.
Hines presented his story, titled “The Art of Wellness,” in front of 600 area high school students on Monday, Sept. 18, at the Arbogast Center in Troy as part of the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health services’ prevention education series during mental health awareness month.
“A lot of people invalidate mental pain because they cannot see it. Suicide is never the solution to your problem … it is the problem,” Hines said.
To this day, Hines still deals with hallucinations, bipolar disorder, and suicidal thoughts. He said he repeats the following words whenever these thoughts come into his head:“My thoughts do not have to become my actions; they can simply be my thoughts.”
Hines believes that while suicide prevention and mental health awareness have made improvements over the last two decades, much more needs to be done.
“I think that we need to, at every level, act for legislative change to alter the state of the country to really fix the mental health crisis. It was broken in the year 2000 when I jumped, and it’s still broken today,” Hines said.
He stressed the importance of being able to help someone who may be in need, even if it might seem uncomfortable.
“When you see someone who you think might be in pain, say, ‘Hey, how are you today? Is something wrong? Can I help you?’ The three Cs, concern, care, and compassion, are the things we need more of in this world,” Hines said.
Hines also expressed the importance of tackling mental health in early childhood education.
“The best thing we can do is talk to those kids in kindergarten and teach them that bullying is not appropriate or tolerated. That means that when they grow up, they will have nothing to do with it, and their incentive will be to stay out of trouble,” Hines said.
Hines expressed if anyone is struggling with mental health issues or suicidal thoughts and needs assistance, call 988, the crisis lifeline, or text 741-741 for the crisis text line.
“My hope is for someone that struggles in silence is that they begin to unburden themselves and be honest about their struggles so they can get the help they need,” Hines said.
For more information on Kevin Hines, visit the website: https://www.kevinhinesstory.com/ or on social media @kevinhinesstory.
