Virginia Tech Athletics welcomes Kevin Hines during Suicide Prevention Week

In conjunction with National Suicide Prevention Week, Virginia Tech Athletics welcomed well-known suicide prevention advocate Kevin Hines to the Merryman Auditorium on Sunday, Sept. 15 and Monday, Sept. 16. Hines presented to all Virginia Tech student-athletes about the importance of suicide prevention.

"This was a big deal,” Senior Associate Athletics Director, Clinical and Sport Psychologist Dr. Gary Bennett said following the event. “We do these programs every year, but to bring in someone like Kevin Hines, who is nationally known for his work in this field and has a powerful message, was a nice compliment to what we usually do.”

Hines, who resides in the San Francisco area, travels around the world to help not only share his story, but to let others know that it’s a necessity for them to be here tomorrow. He’s presented to audiences in six different continents and all 50 states.

“Being here with the athletes yesterday and today means the world,” Hines said. “We know it’s a group that is struggling with suicidal ideation at a higher level than other groups in college. We need to make sure we’re reaching them at their core, getting to their hopes and values and dreams, making sure they know that suicide is not the answer to their problem, that it is the problem.

“Suicidal ideation’s the greatest liar we know, you don’t have to listen to it, and suicide doesn’t take the pain away, it transfers it on to everyone left behind. It makes it impossible for things to ever get better. If we can express that tonight, that there’s so many more options beside suicide, that when you’re struggling with these kinds of ideations and thoughts, let’s give you a couple of tools to take home with you, so that you don’t have to attempt, but instead get the help you need.”

Hines ended up speaking in front of roughly 650 Tech student-athletes. He discussed what led him to where he is now, what turned his life around and how others can reach out should they ever need any help – all while still being engaging and welcoming while talking about a serious subject.

“He’s completely truthful to who he is and what’s happened in the past,” swimming and diving student-athlete Emma Atkinson said. "Even though he talks about something so serious like suicide, he does make it lighthearted in the sense that it’s deep and it has some emotions that got brought up. …

“If anything, it’s important to recognize that, yes, this is a serious topic, but the way that Kevin does it is unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced."

At the end of the day, though, the goal was consistent for all parties involved – the key ingredient to why Hines made an appearance.

“Don’t silence your pain,” Bennett said. “Speak if you need to speak. Suicide is a disease of hopelessless, and we want to provide that spark that there is hope – that there’s always hope. Kevin’s message definitely resonates with that message.”

“I hope that everyone took away that not just suicide isn’t the option, but that hope is around the corner,” Hines said. “You can get there if you just keep walking.”