Prairie View Celebrates 65 Years with Dinner, Global Mental Health Advocate
January 29, 2019
Newton, Kan. (January 29, 2019) – “Prairie View Hospital at Newton, Kansas is the newest mental hospital facility and the third of the MCC,” begins a description of Prairie View in the July 1954 issue of Mennonite Life.
Sixty-five years later, Prairie View is celebrating a milestone in ministry by inviting the public to hear Kevin Hines, an award-winning global speaker, bestselling author, documentary filmmaker, and suicide prevention and mental health speaker, speak at the organization’s anniversary dinner to be held Thursday, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m. The dinner will take place at Prairie View’s Recreation Center, located at 1901 E. First St., Newton.
The event is sponsored by Midland National Bank.
Hines has reached millions with his story of an unlikely survival and his strong will to live. Two years after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he attempted to take his life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. He is one of only thirty-four (less than 1 percent) to survive the fall and he is the only Golden Gate Bridge jump survivor who is actively spreading the message of living mentally healthy internationally.
Through his tireless advocacy and policy efforts of over ten years, Hines has been a leading champion for constructing a suicide prevention net on the Golden Gate Bridge and was instrumental in success of the approved funding on June 2014.
In the summer of 2013, Hines released his bestselling memoir titled Cracked Not Broken, Surviving and Thriving After a Suicide Attempt.
He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Council of Behavioral Health. Hines has also been awarded by SAMSHA as a Voice Awards Fellow and Award Winner, an Achievement Winner by the US Veterans Affairs and is a recipient of several military Medals.
Hines sits on the boards of The International Bipolar Foundation, The Bridge Rail Foundation (BRF), The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s Consumer Survivors Sub-Committee and The Mental Health Association of San Francisco (MHASF). Hines has spoken and testified in congressional hearings alongside Patrick Kennedy in support of the Mental Health Parity Bill. He has been a powerful voice for the lived experience movement for over 15 years.
Hines’s will to live and stay mentally well has inspired people worldwide. His compelling story has touched diverse, global audiences within colleges and universities, high schools, corporations, clergy, military, clinicians, health and medical communities, law enforcement organizations and various conferences. Thousands have communicated to Hines that his story helped save their lives.
His story was featured in the 2006 critically-acclaimed film “The Bridge” by the film director and producer Eric Steel. He has been featured on CNN, Fox, Time Magazine, New York Times, NBC’s The Today Show, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, The Today Show, Good Morning America, ABC’s PrimeTime Live, BBC World among several other international media outlets.
Hines believes in the power of the human spirit and in the fact that you can find the ability to live mentally well. His mantra: “Life is a gift, that is why they call it the present. Cherish it always.”