Just wiggle your toes.
The only goal Kevin Brooks had left, lying in a hospital bed paralyzed from the chest down. Twenty years later he has told that story to a million students across North America.
- 1M+
- students reached
- Thousands
- of schools visited
- 20+
- years speaking
- 31
- US states
- 8
- Canadian provinces
Featured nationally
One minute laughing. The next minute not.
A gymnasium of teenagers goes quiet for an hour. National television, a Super Bowl campaign and a music video have all told a version of the same story. Here is what it looks like.
- Promo videoTwo and a half minutes of what an assembly actually looks likeYouTube · 2021
- ICBC Road Safety SpeakersICBC's own film about the school talk, made when he had been touring it a decadeYouTube · ICBC, 2013
- Reebok — “Be More Human”The campaign that ran during Super Bowl XLIX. Kevin is in it from 0:42.YouTube · 2015
- SonReal — “Believe”His story re-created for the music video, with him in itYouTube · SonReal
Also featured on The Tyra Show in an episode called “Teens on the Edge: A Wake Up Call”, and in season one, episode one of My Life with the Walter Boys on Netflix.
What Kevin speaks about
What he actually talks about.
Impaired & distracted driving
The part that comes after the decision. He is the consequence, in the room.
Suicide prevention & depression
His first thoughts in hospital were of ending it. He says that plainly, and says what changed.
Bullying, relationships & forgiveness
Brendon's family stood with him after the crash. He talks about being forgiven, and what facing them took.
Decision making & peer pressure
The it-will-never-happen-to-me feeling that every teenager in the room recognises, and where it took him.
Overcoming obstacles
Guilt, grief and a body that stopped working. In his words, he chose to swim rather than sink.
Leadership & positive change
What he did with a second chance, starting with a lake he had to learn to swim across.
The short version
How he ended up doing this.
Kevin Brooks skateboarded, snowboarded and played hockey. One Saturday night he left a party and drove drunk. The crash left him paralyzed from the chest down, and his passenger — his childhood hockey friend Brendon — did not survive it.
Lying in a hospital bed, he tried to move his legs and could not. Walking was not the goal any more. The goal was four words: just wiggle your toes.
He has spent the twenty years since telling that story — in thousands of middle and high schools across Canada and the United States, at colleges and conferences, to sports teams, and to thousands of US Army troops. One minute he has an audience laughing. The next he has them crying.