Bridging Hope and Despair with Kevin Briggs

How To Human with Sam Lamott

Briggs, a retired California Highway Patrol sergeant, spent many years patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge. While on patrol, he encountered numerous individuals clinging to life by a thread – individuals who had lost hope and could see no way out of their current situation - ready to jump off the bridge to what they assumed was a sudden death and end of their pain and hopelessness.

Briggs, through his compassion, gentle voice, eye contact, and his innate ability of “listening to understand” encouraged more than 200 individuals over his career to either not go over the bridge’s rail or come back to solid ground from where they had been standing precariously out on the chord of the bridge and start a new chapter in their life. These challenging, but rewarding efforts earned him the nickname “Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge.” After a 23-year career with the California Highway Patrol, Briggs retired to dedicate his life to promote mental health awareness across the globe through Pivotal Points, an organization he founded.

Today, Briggs is mapping a movement as he speaks and trains others in suicide prevention, crisis management, and negotiations. He shares his “Listening to Understand” skills followed up with key active listening points; his personal triad for healthy living; his RELEASE model to assist in communicating with someone in crisis and his crisis safety plan for those who may be struggling. He also discusses in-depth his own personal mental health struggles. Briggs spends the majority of his time speaking/teaching at conferences, advocacy events, colleges and universities, first responder conferences, law enforcement (including FBI & Secret Service), and military bases.

Suicide prevention lifeline: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or call: 1-800-273-8255

TWLOHA find help resource: https://twloha.com/find-help/

For more of Kevin:

TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_briggs_the_bridge_between_suicide_and_life

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Guardian-Golden-Gate-Protecting-Between/dp/0990437574

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