Barbara Beeden introduced guest speaker Kevin Briggs, retired CHP Sergeant and author of Guardian of the Golden Gate.

 

Kevin Briggs was born in Novato and lives in Petaluma.  His presentation was centered around his experiences working on the Golden Gate Bridge trying to prevent suicides.  Over the years, Mr Briggs is credited with preventing more than 200 suicides.  

 

Through training and his own experiences, he developed the technique of active listening, which he describes as becoming involved with the subject and extending the conversation to the point that the subject voluntarily climbs out of the place of danger--often on a ledge below the surface of the bridge called the chord. Sergeant Briggs tries to engage the individual, without a show of authority or personal aggression--and tries to get the person to talk about themselves to the point that they trust Briggs enough to take the important step of saving their own life.  

 

Statistics show that there were almost 60 suicides from Golden Gate Bridge in 2013.  The number is not exact because not all reports include finding a body--which is required for the incident to be classified a suicide.  In 2014, there were 42,773 suicides in the US, compared to about 32,000 automobile accident deaths.

 

Kevin's listening includes active encouragement that becomes evident when he describes an experience where he talked to a young man who had leaped onto a pipe next to the Chord when Briggs first arrived on his motorcycle.  Briggs listened to the man for 96 minutes and estimates that he talked less than 5 minutes during that time.  Eventually, the man voluntarily climbed back over the rail.   Both Briggs and this man recently spoke at a Conference of the American Society for Suicide Prevention.  When Briggs asked him what was important about their experience on the bridge, he responded by saying, "You listened to me."  

 

Briggs gave another personal experience example using the Rotary motto, "Service Before Self." The incident involved Briggs' 13 year old son, Kevin, who was distraught at home after Briggs and his wife went through a divorce.  He attended counseling with his son and discovered that his son blamed himself for causing of the divorce.  As the therapy continued, Briggs was appalled when the counselor asked his son directly "You are not suicidal, are you?"  Briggs considered the question both leading and suggestive, and complained strenuously. Fortunately, although he found that the counselor lacked training in listening, he was not ego-driven and was willing to examine his counseling skills.  

 

Briggs finished his presentation by pointing out that many professionals who serve others often fail to see what is going in their own homes. He suggested that  those in the helping professions need to "take time for their families and for themselves."

 

President Rick thanked Sergeant Briggs for his important talk and presented him with a bottle of Official Rotary Beverage (Pino for Polio).  He then rang the bell, closing the meeting.