Dickson Citizen of the Year | Kevin Humphreys

of the night in Afghanistan, working with and leading passionate and capable men and women, experiencing the heartbreak of loss of life or the despair of mental illness and suicidal ideation; I look back now and although there’s some things I didn’t like very much, all those experiences are the bedrock I stand on today.” prevention and promote conversation to further destigmatise suicide and mental illness.

The burden of leadership and prior deployment eventually left Kevin diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. However, he still successfully built a second career in civilian search and rescue flying.

“Leaving the Army, I was deeply ashamed of my self-perceived ‘failure’ in having mental illness and suicidal ideation so I asked my wife to help me keep it a secret, which we did for years until I realised that the secret we were keeping was actually keeping us,” he said.

Drawing on his personal crippling mental health journey resulting from his Australian Defence Force service, Kevin Humphreys has sought to help others in similar situations through mental health advocacy. He also founded Cor Infinitus, establishing memorials nation-wide, dedicated to those that served our nation before taking their own life. Kevin was recently named Dickson Citizen of the Year for his inspirational leadership and service to those around him.

Kevin served in the Australian Defence Force as a Black Hawk and Chinook helicopter pilot for 20 years, rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel.

“I believe that to serve one’s nation through the profession of arms is the most noble of deeds one can undertake. The military gave me the highest of highs and lowest of lows in various places across Australia and around the globe,” he said.

“Whether it was delivering famine relief in PNG, flying assault missions in the middle

“Every experience of PTSD is unique. I was very fortunate that my PTSD wasn’t severe, but the depression and anxiety was crippling. I was in denial and hiding them until the point of having my breakdown and then I couldn’t hide any longer,” Kevin said.

“With a loving wife, professional support and my own desire to regain my health, I visualised a new and improved version of myself that allowed me to return to being functional again and return to work,” he said.

“The harder, deeper, longer effort was emotional acceptance of my condition. That forced me to look far beyond conventional approaches and re-connect with myself at a soul level – something that seemed completely woo-woo at the time! Truth was that even though I was well enough to return to work, emotionally I still felt fractured. By re-connecting with myself at a deep level, I regained a wholeness that had been missing for a long time.”

In founding Cor Infinitus, Kevin sought to create memorials to assist in suicide