VICTOR SCHMITT-BUSH and ALEXANDRIA SMITH
Assistant News Editor and Special to The Leader
Approximately 99 percent of people who jump off the Golden Gate bridge don’t make it. Over the course of 80 years, more than 2,000 people have jumped off of the bridge — only 36 people have survived the fall.
According to suicide survivor, public speaker, author and film director Kevin Hines, in those final seconds after putting their hands on the guardrail and hoisting themselves up to jump, every single one of them will have regretted it.
Fredonia recognizes this and takes suicide prevention and mental health seriously. To show the extent to which they care, the campus’ Engagement and Economic Development (EED) department hosted a public airing of “Suicide: the Ripple Effect,” a documentary about Hines’ miraculous survival.
The message in his story was clear: there is always hope, and people do care.
“We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers,” Hines said. “We aren’t here for our own betterment or gain. We’re here for each other.”
The event was held in the Kelly Family auditorium of the Science Center. The room was filled, not just with people, but with tears, too.
According to speech pathologist Kevin Kearns, who is the president of the EED, Hines’ story was bound to affect everyone in the room in an unspeakable way.
“He is leading a cause that matters. He has impacted so many people positively,” said Kearns. “He still struggles with bipolar disease. He still struggles with all of those mental health issues, but with help and with work, he’s turned his life to a very positive place.”
Despite the pain that he has endured, Hines has found a way to show his gratitude for his second chance at life. He has become the one and only suicide survivor off of the Golden Gate to speak openly about his story and he credits faith, friends and family for his recovery.
Hines noted that people typically have a very limited understanding of mental health issues, and that they are often stigmatized. Even he stigmatized his own bipolar disorder before it began to settle in and take full effect.
“I didn’t believe that I had the disease,” he said. “I didn’t want it. I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to have the label of bipolar.”
According to Kearns, on the day that Hines decided to jump, there wasn’t a single stranger that was willing to help him. Hines was giving off clear signs that something wasn’t right. He didn’t want to die, but the voices in his head were so loud that he felt at the time that he had to do it.
“One of the things that clearly comes out in the documentary is that he was in so much pain, that he couldn’t say, ‘I need help,’”said Kearns. “He was waiting and waiting and hoping that someone would say, ‘Are you okay? Can I help?’”
But no one did.
“What his story showed everyone who came to the event is that all of us have a responsibility to be there when we see someone in distress,” said Kearns. “We need to simply reach out. That’s the one most important, most powerful message of that film.”
Kearns said that a common thought people with suicidal tendencies have is believing that they are a waste of space. According to him, the first step to reaching out is to prove them wrong.
In Hines’ case, his own father, Patrick Hines, expressed to his son after the jump that he should have paid more attention to what he was going through.
Mental health issues, suicide and the labels of mental illness are all things that people walk away from, according to Hines. Even so, it is the ability to face these fears and speak openly about uncomfortable topics that will help end this pandemic.
“This documentary has so much potential for reaching out to the public and building a forum for discussion and education in a topic that we as people tend to be too frightened to even mention,” said junior molecular genetics major Chris Pachecho, who is also a counselor for Crisis Text Line, a non-profit organization that provides crisis intervention through text message.
“Mediums like this are what inspire movements and changes in social convention,” said Pachehco.
Suicide happens fast. According to Hines, it happens every day at a rate this is always increasing, but if we work together, maybe we can reverse it.
“Every 40 seconds someone dies by suicide,” he said. “[But] positive effects can spread, too.”