He jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge in an attempt to end his life, now, Kevin Hines spends his life helping others caught in the grip of mental illness and despair. The 40-year-old mental health advocate is bringing his message of hope and recovery to Northeast Georgia this week. His visit coincides with Mental Health Awareness Week, part of a month-long observance aimed at educating the public and advocating for policies that support people with mental illness and their families.
On Thursday, May 5, Hines will be the featured guest speaker at two events held at the Flowery Branch High School theater. The evening event, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., is open to the public. It will be streamed live on the Hall County Schools YouTube channel.
Nobody cares
Hines’ story is a compelling one. He relates it in his award-winning documentary, Suicide the Ripple Effect, released in 2018.
On the morning of Monday, September 25, 2000, at the age of 19, Hines, who lived in the San Francisco area at the time, traveled by bus to the Golden Gate Bridge. As he stood at the edge of the bridge, he says a woman approached him. He thought she would ask him if he was okay, but instead, she asked him to take her picture.
“She was there to create happy memories and I was there to die,” he recounts in the documentary.
After snapping several photos of the woman, Hines says he watched her walk away. As she did, he thought to himself, “Nobody cares. Nobody cares.” It was at that moment that a voice in his head told him to “jump now” and he did.
“I was compelled to die.”
While freefalling to what he thought would be his death, Hines says he had “instant regret and the thought that it was too late.”
He fell into the waters of San Francisco Bay.
“I thought I could not have just done that. There’s no way I just did that. This is not real,” he says in the film. “And that’s when I just prayed, ‘God, please save me I don’t want to die. God, please save me I don’t want to die. I made a mistake.'”
A sea lion and the Coast Guard helped save Hines’ life that day.
Life after his suicide attempt
Kevin Hines’ story gained major media coverage. Now, he travels the world speaking to at-risk groups, urging people to seek help for mental illness, and helping them realize that suicide is not the answer.
He is a best-selling author, global public speaker, and award-winning documentary filmmaker who, with his wife, co-founded the Kevin and Margaret Hines Foundation. The Atlanta-based nonprofit provides funding and education for suicide prevention and invests in film and media projects that convey that message.
Thursday’s event at Flowery Branch High is being sponsored by the Hall County School District, Project Aware Georgia, Avita, Partnership for a Drug Free Hall, and Northeast Georgia Medical Center.
For more information, call the school at 770-967-8000. Flowery Branch High School is located at 4450 Hog Mountain Road in Hall County.
