It is my honor and privilege to introduce our keynot speaker tonight we are honored to have Dr Kevin Schneider here tonight as our special guest Kevin’s own experience battling mental health started when he was just 12 years old when he was diagnosed with depression and an eating disorder that literally almost took his
Life his journey to recover inspired him with a desire to raise awareness about mental health and most of all to help others especially our young folks while his professional career started on college campuses Kevin soon felt the calling to share his story Way Beyond that to the classroom and then beyond
That when his passionate Pursuit for research speaking and writing truly began he has authored several best-selling books one of which you guys are all going to receive as a gift that Kevin has personally autographed [Applause] tonight please join me in giving a rousing and against for welcome to Dr Kevin [Applause]
Schneider look around look at your table for just a moment look at the influence and power and change that we all have would you agree with that that’s why we’re here tonight right preach it um as I was thinking of remarks that might be meaningful for you
Tonight this is a different type of presentation than I normally give it’s very story driven for a reason and a little of it a little B of it for me to be honest with you was a little painful because sometimes I still struggle but I talk about
It Mother Teresa is credited with saying I alone cannot change the world but I can cast a stone to create a Ribble yes and the ripple effect has brought me to you tonight I would not be in front of you tonight if it weren’t for a tedex talk that I
Delivered late last fall where I finally felt it was time for me to open up and talk about my own struggles growing up I’m a motivational speaker yet I never talked about my struggles and the tedex talk that I delivered I delivered it in the manner I intended to
Because be purely raw the book that you’ll get tonight is called Pure vulnerability for a reason and when I delivered the talk it actually got banned from the Ted gods they said it was too sensitive and my reply to them was that’s exactly why you need to post it because awareness defeats stigma
[Applause] yes and stigma is the number one barrier to people receiving treatment so as I was waiting for them to and I prayed on and I I as I was waiting patiently for them to post it long story short I decided you know what I’m going to get my publishing
Team to be prepared to promote this talk and I wrote a book on it the book that you’ll get tonight I prepared them to promote it as the the talk they did not want you to see and when we got close to to launching it they actually did post it and I was
Relieved and that’s when the ripple effect and the flywheel took effect because somebody fored to somebody who fored to Van let’s give a shout out to Van who for it to Shell let’s give a shout out to sh I I’ve spoken for a lot of different organizations and a lot of different
Foundations you’re not going to find a more passionate Mission driven person than shell sorry and when Shelly reached out to me and she didn’t know where I lived who are you where you where can we meet can we talk on Zoom I’m like better yet let’s meet at Sola coffee off Le
M and what started off as early coffee easily L into lunch if you know Shelly yes and if you know me for sure but that is the ripple effect and I knew then and I’ll share something at the very end of my my short remarks I’ll
Share why it’s not just that but there’s more to the foundation of hope that matters so much for me that connected the dots on why I knew that conversation was the most important conversation I would have and I wanted to do everything in my power to Advocate and support any initiative
That the foundation of hope is doing that’s why I’m in front of you to but the ripple effect led me to you but we are the Ripple we are the Ripple all of you are the Ripple and we have a chance and opportunity not not only to talk about mental health but literally
To save lives I am just I’m living proof and this is where my story gets a little painful and I hope I will keep it together a little bit but I I’m lucky I know I’m lucky to be alive I’m blessed I’m grateful I remind myself of
That I grew up in a very loving family I grew up in Durham anybody from Durham yeah anybody heard of Durham but I have an older brother and a younger sister my mom was a teacher at Northern durm High School my dad was a [Applause] freeer for one of
Those so middle kid preacher kid double wh right and looking back at just 12 years old I did have a couple things that triggered me um I still don’t know the cause but some things happen C like circumstances where I found out my best friend my best friend was with my
Girlfriend behind my back I made some poor decisions stopped showing up for soccer practice got kicked off the soccer team which soccer was all I did as a kid growing up soin just a short period of time I lost basically the three things that mattered to me as a
12-year-old boy my girl my my best friend and a sport that I loved and I didn’t cope well I didn’t know how to cope and later I’d find out that in my family there is a history of of mental health and depression so I was basically a loaded gun waiting to go off
And I stopped eating I withdrew from everything my mom and dad knew there was a problem they didn’t know how to help what to do and frankly I was good at masking it if any of you have kids you know they’re pretty smart with masking what might be going on what
People cannot see and that’s a struggle with mental health it’s what we don’t see and you don’t have to be diagnosed with a mental health condition to struggle with mental health right I stopped eating I lost a lot of weight I was in a dark spiral long story
Short my mom pulled me out of school one day to go visit the doctors and that was when the doctors had to huddle with other doctors because they didn’t know what to do as you heard van and Shelley say earlier you know for me this was specifically
1988 the doctors admitted when they came back in the room they looked at my mom as if I was not even there and they said and I don’t remember much during this dark period of my life but I remember them looking looking at my mom as if I
Was not there as if I was invisible saying to her we’ve never treated an adolescent boy with depression we don’t know what to do and we thought Eating Disorders only occurred in girls my friends we’ve come a long way yes but do we still have a ways to go that’s why we’re
Here and I’m not going to say or suggest to you my recovery was was fun but I knew then I had a choice between life or death and because I’m a mama’s boy and I love my mom I love my dad too but I knew
Then that if I didn’t make a choice to get better or at least seek help I I didn’t have a chance and as I gained some of the weight back I may have looked as if I was okay and normal but you I I didn’t didn’t feel normal on the
Inside I thought anything but and I carried a lot of that with me I actually bumped into somebody tonight who I haven’t seen since high school people don’t know this story who know me from back then but I carried all this with me to college thinking I could forget it
Thinking I could move on thinking wow but I carried it with me cuz I didn’t talk about it and I struggled my first year of college I went to UNCC Wilmington do I any Seahawks and I try to do that with my speeches um but I struggled my first
Year I kept my bags packed I tried to drop out several times but the DEA student stuck with Dean Terry C at UNC Wilmington back in 1994 every time I went to his office with a draw form Dean Terry would look at me and say Kevin I’m required to sign this
But I don’t want to for you what do you need how can we help and Dean Terry Curran just simply cared he cared and he would always say to me what what can we do give me two more weeks before you make a life-changing decision that you might
Regret and one of the recommendations he gave me was get involved on campus meet some people and so I saw for a year I threw a hail Mary I joined a fraternity cuz I met some cool guys at the gym and it was recruitment week at the Golden Corral free
Food but these guys talked about truth courage Faith they just seemed a little bit different and I knew them prior long Ser which I’ve said a few times I joined this fraternity and at the Brotherhood annual campfire Retreat envisioned this 30 30 guys who I barely
Knew and in that moment of what I call nothing else but pure vulnerability I shared with them this story about my history with depression and having anorex I just I felt called something in that moment moment almost like this moment with you and I expected them to kick me
Out because I was a fraud an impostor but what do you think happened they came up to me afterward thanking me you know giving me these chest bolts of Brotherly affection true son of Brotherhood but more importantly in the days and even weeks after that the these other 18 19
Year olds would come up to me on campus and just say hey man thanks bro I’m struggling too even be real real and my story which is why I’m driven to share my story now it’s because you never know who might be struggling and none of us are alone we
Are all on this together so that experience for me was the beginning that really transformed my whole college career I went from near Dropout to a 4.0 fraternity Man of the Year homecoming King UNCW or even Dean Terry Curran set me up with an interview with the director for admissions for UNCW to
Give campus tours telling perspec with the students and parents how awesome the University was so when I graduated UNCW with the degree in Marine biology obviously I knew I knew that I was going to pursue a career in student affairs I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I
Was going to pursue being like somebody like Dean Terry Curry to support any student that make need a little extra help and as I pursued different positions I was a director of orientation a director of Student Activities I worked at several different colleges as I was also
Pursuing my masters and my Doctrine I lived my dream I achieved my what I thought was my dream I achieved it in 2010 I became the dean of students at High Point University I was a young [Applause] de I was a young de they were looking for a young
De but catch this this I never talked about my story with my students and even in my research for my doctor degree it was a qualitative research dissertation on self-efficacy which is your belief systems that you can achieve desired results and my focus was on first generation college students trying to
Understand what was it about the students who persisted that made them successful and when I interviewed them hearing their stories of of strength of persistence I was so just amazed but yet I still felt like a fraud because I never shared and never shared mine because I felt for some reason if
They knew that I struggled for some reason they would not respect me or think I was an impostor I never shared with and I look back at those moments I don’t have any regrets in my life because everything has led me to this moment right here if I change anything about my
Past would change this moment I do not want to change this moment I don’t have any regret but I do look back and wonder how many more students could I have impacted during the my 10e day but I was presenting a conference presenting at a conference
For aen to share some of my research findings because they thought it was pretty cool I didn’t too many time and in that speech I went a different direction I felt A Moment Like That campfire with my fraternity I felt a moment where I opened up and shared my story of
Depression of my eating disorder and my impostor syndrome that I had most of my professional career never feeling good enough with a thousand strangers I didn’t even know and I expected them to boo me off stage I literally expected the meeting planner who hired me to ask for the money
Back and after that speech still to this date it was the longest line I’ve ever had with people waiting to chat with him thanking me some With Tears in their eyes sharing their stories and just feeling hope that they weren’t alone and I’ll never forget waking up to an email the next
Morning from a young lady named Kelly and Kelly shared with me well first off she said I didn’t want to go to your speech and then she says I came to this conference to take my own life and I had a plan and I was going to do it during your
Speech because my plan was so that nobody else could stop me but what happened was one of her roommates at this hotel where I was speaking had forgotten something in their hotel room and had come back into the room to get it finding Kelly and they literally pulled Kelly
Out of that room not even knowing that they were saving Kelly’s life and I’m just the messenger but when Kelly heard my story in that speech where I opened up Kelly for the first time found hope she felt not alone and she found will to get treatment Kelly is now a guidance cander
At high school how cool is that so I’ll Land This Plane here and then that that moment I credit Kelly Kell K Kelly is why I also knew I had to share my story not to just share it but to use it to use it for good to reframe my
Story to give it new meaning and purpose that can help change lives I am just the messenger yeah but all of us all of us are that’s why we’re here tonight when I met with Shelly at Sol coffee that morning I woke up very
Early and I dress in my gut I said you know I’m going to do a little bit more digging on the foundation of hope you know I thought this was just going to be a nice conversation we’re you know blah blah and then I find out after doing some research on their
Website the story the history of the foundation the first year of the Walk For Hope was the first year that I started receiving treatment as a 12-year-old boy then I look at the UNCC School of Psychiatry to see who are some of the faculty who are some of the people that
On the on the professional staff one of those people is the counselor that I met with who saved my life there are no coincidences I’m going do everything in my power to support this Foundation thank you shell thank you van thank you all the staff and people I mean it’s [Applause]
Amazing I guess the last thing I’ll say is I’m a father to a four and a two-year-old right now um who I know have a genetic disposition to M own I’m aware of that it’s on my mind constantly and I wonder might one of them struggle like I
Did and how can I how can I protect them by better understanding mental health by research and that’s why I am so so thrilled to hear about the new champs program that the foundation child has anxiety and for his prr which focuses on adolescents and young adults and their
Families I’m just so honored to be with you tonight I hope if I’ve shared anything with you that has meaning use it I’m just the messenger yes I alone cannot change the world we together [Applause] can he sign a book for everybody all right get ready we’re going to have
Dancing and everything going on but right now I want to introduce our Auctioneer all the way from the great state of Michigan ladies and gentlemen give it up for Jason Laro oh thank you Steve ladies and gentlemen it’s a pleasure and an honor to be with each
And every one of you here tonight to support the foundation of Hope
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