EP 17_ Ask Kev_DON'T DO IT ALONE: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Kevin Hines:
My name is Kevin Hines. I jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. I believe that I had to die, but I lived. Today, I travel the world with my lovely wife, Margaret, sharing stories of people who have triumphed over incredible adversity. Now, we help people be here tomorrow. Welcome to the HINESIGHTS podcast.
Speaker:
So, Kevin, my first question to you is, talk to me a little bit about from your own point of view, how behavioral health challenges impact lives. Just give me a sense of that.
Kevin Hines:
How behavioral health challenges impact lives. Behavioral health challenges impact lives on a daily basis to millions of people around the world who suffer with these challenges and difficulties by halting their daily efforts, by ruining their ability to function, to cope and to live, in any kind of good form. Behavioral challenges is, particularly in America, 50 million people in America live with mental illnesses every year, and they suffer and they can't work and they can't go to school and they live inside their heads. People on drugs and alcohol, copious amounts, can't function, can't take care of their families or let their families take care of them. It leads to self-destruction. These things lead to suicide. 30 plus million suicides are around the country, a million around the globe. They break down families and they destroy lives. But they are treatable and they can be helped and people can heal with them.
Speaker:
Talk a little bit about, you mentioned community and people feeling isolated. What does social inclusion mean to you?
Kevin Hines:
Social inclusion means the world to me. Without social inclusion, we are left to our own accord and our own brains, wandering, never, never-ending wandering in our own heads with inner, self-destructive voices that we've learned over years due to trauma and due to nature and nurture. Social inclusion is pertinent to all of, all of us. To be able to have friends and family and peers you talk to on a daily basis that in a way, in a sense, if you're living with behavioral challenges can help keep you sane. Those connections can help keep you on the right path, and those connections when utilized when you're struggling can give you hope.
Speaker:
What are some cultural barriers to social inclusion?
Kevin Hines:
Cultural barriers, social inclusion include the people who see you with your behavioral health challenge and tell you to snap out of it, to move on and to keep moving forward, and to let it go. There are the people that look at you while you're struggling and, you know, say to you, well, there's nothing wrong with you. it's all in your head. Well, of course it is, it's your brain having struggles and you know, if I have a cast on my right arm, everyone does what? They sign it. Get well soon. But if I have something broken, essentially, in my brain, people just can't comprehend why I can't get my act together. Whether it's drugs, alcohol, mental illness, or all of the above, it's the culture we live in today, the society we live in today, is a fast-paced one and wants you to get things done and when you can't for these behavioral health challenges and problems, you're shunned upon and even some family members can walk away, not helping you and people don't get it that yes, it's in the brain, yes, these are diseases that I have to cope with and deal with and treat and and heal from. But I need help. Can't do it alone.
Kevin Hines:
Margaret and I love sharing stories of people who have triumphed over incredible adversity. For more content and inspiration, go to KevinHinesStory.com or visit us on all social media at KevinHinesStory or on youtube.com/KevinHines.
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