Former California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Briggs has saved more than 200 people from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, and Friday he told Duke students how.
Briggs, who worked as “the negotiator” and “the guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge” for 17 years, explained his thought process when approaching individuals ready to jump. He emphasized that “commonalities create comfort” and that finding “hooks” to relate to people and prolong the conversation is important. Active listening skills, along with engaging the individual in conversation, also help people grapple with heightened emotions and encourage rational thought.
“I want to empower them,” Briggs said. “I want them to come back on their own. It takes courage to come back and face what they [are at the bridge for].”
Suicidal thoughts are not unlike cancer, Briggs explained, noting that in both cases it is hard to reverse the damage that has already been done.
Briggs walked the crowd of about 180 people through his process of addressing and reaching out to potential jumpers. First, he asks permission to speak with the people on the “pipe,” which is the part of the bridge from which people typically jump.
Second, he connects with the individual, and listens to his or her background. Briggs estimated that about 90 percent of those he talked with ultimately did not go through with jumping.
“There’s no magic there,” he said. “All it takes is some listening.”
Briggs’ own struggles with depression in the past help him to empathize with those struggling with the burden of mental illness. During his life, he suffered through cancer when he was young, watched his mother die and went through a painful divorce, but depression was the worst of all, he said.
The event, “The Bridge Between Suicide and Life,” was hosted by NeuroCare—a club that works to raise awareness for neurological disorders on campus and support those suffering from psychiatric illnesses.
The talk hit home for some students in attendance, including freshman Kira Wang.
“I’m from the Bay Area and I’ve spent a lot of time in the city and on the Golden Gate Bridge,” she said. “You know it’s this iconic monument that you don’t really think of as a place where people choose to commit suicide, so that piqued my interest.”
Freshman Jake Wong said he was initially drawn to the event because of a TedTalk Briggs gave called “The Bridge Between Suicide and Life” and a prominent picture featured during that presentation, of Briggs talking a woman off the ledge.
“I never thought I’d actually get to meet the man in the photo, so that was really cool,” he said.
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