Joe Rogan recently came out with the best podcast I've heard regarding depression and addiction; how our society breeds mental sickness in people and how poorly our medical systems are set up to understand and treat mental illness. I would highly recommend it to anyone experiencing depression or has someone they care about experiencing depression.
Joe's stance is more towards the role of the individual and Johann is more towards the role society plays, seeing the way their stances conflict and compliment each other has really evolved my own understanding.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
Exp:
San Francisco's 'Golden Gate Guardian' prevented more than 200 suicides
Quote:
Former California Highway Patrol officer Kevin Briggs says he talked more than 200 people out of killing themselves on the Golden Gate Bridge, losing only two individuals to suicide during 23 years of patrolling San Francisco’s most iconic – and tragic – landmark. Briggs retired from the CHP in 2013, and has since become an advocate for suicide prevention, after confronting the issue on a monthly basis.
Briggs says he essentially stumbled into the role of part-time suicide counsellor, after he was assigned to the Golden Gate Bridge beat in 1990. “I had no training before I went out there – it was just a beat I was working,” he told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.
Quote:
One of Briggs’ most high-profile rescues occurred in 2005, when he spent approximately 90 minutes talking to 22-year-old Kevin Berthia. Berthia had already climbed over the edge when Briggs was called to the scene, and Berthia attempted to jump when he saw the CHP officer approach. But Briggs says Berthia managed to catch himself on a “little bitty pipe,” and hung on while Briggs attempted to engage him in conversation.
“I introduced myself, I raised my hand and I go, ‘Hi, I’m Kevin. Is it OK if I come up and talk with you for a bit?” Briggs said.
Briggs says he wound up speaking for only four or five minutes during their 1.5-hour conversation. “He had a lot of things going on in his life that were wrong,” Briggs said. “All he was looking for was somebody to listen to him.”
Berthia told Briggs that he was a former postal worker who had been battling depression for years, and was feeling particularly overwhelmed as a new father.
A photo snapped by the San Francisco Chronicle shows the moment when Berthia took Briggs’ hand and agreed to abandon his suicide plans.
Berthia has since become an advocate for suicide prevention, and has appeared at speaking engagements with Briggs to discuss the issue.
Please remove this if you deem it inappropriate, but I found it profoundly interesting. Suicide fascinates me and I still think about this documentary even after 12 years.
