2 Ears, 1 Heart: The Kevin Berthia Story

In this course, Kevin Berthia, suicide survivor, advocate, and speaker, shares the story of how he never felt like he had permission to show his real feelings, putting on a happy face all the time. Yet, having to deal with multiple life traumas – from knowing that he was adopted and not feeling like he belonged, through adoptive parental divorce, to relational and financial problems – without being allowed to feel or express his feelings led eventually to 22 suicide attempts. Berthia chronicles how he spent 92 minutes on the Golden Gate Bridge, on the outside of the railing, with his feet on a four-inch cord. He was talking to Officer Briggs, who had distracted him while he was mid-air starting to jump to his death. Berthia says that Officer Briggs’ listening, empathy, and compassion as Berthia’s story tumbled out are what saved his life. From that moment, he began to reclaim his life, and now talks to people struggling as he was, persuading them that they, too, can learn to live with self-acceptance, self-love, and authenticity, expressing what they genuinely feel in life.