The Bridge Peer Counseling Center (usually referred to as simply The Bridge) is a student-run 24-hour peer-counseling center at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
that offers free confidential counseling and a comprehensive information and referral service. It primarily serves the undergraduate and graduate student communities of Stanford, but is also open to the general public. The drop-in service is available from 9am to midnight every day, but people can call 24 hours a day, 7 days week.
History
The Bridge was founded in 1971, under the supervision of Dr. Vincent D'Andrea,
Obituary of Dr. Vincent D'Andrea, Stanford Report, August 22, 2001
/ref> a staff psychiatrist at the Cowell Student Health Services, and was originally intended as a confidential drug-counseling center. Over the years, it evolved into a general peer-counseling center.
The name was inspired by the Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...
song " Bridge Over Troubled Water," which had topped the Billboard charts the year before.
Operation
The Bridge is staffed entirely by undergraduate and graduate student volunteers. The service is anchored by four live-in counselors, who cover the night shifts and take on administrative and mentoring roles.
All counselors take two ten-week courses that cover basic counseling methods and surveys a wide variety of campus health issues. This class is taught by a full-time staff psychologist at Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), with the assistance of Bridge counselors.
Every year from 1971 to 2008, The Bridge organized the Stanford Spring Faire, a three-day-long fine arts and crafts fair, to fund itself. Since 2009, the Bridge has received funding through ASSU Special Fees as a registered student group.
Notable alumni
* Cory Booker, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, 2013-present; Mayor of Newark, 2006-2013
* Peter Salovey, President, Yale University, 2013- ; Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology, Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, 1986- ;
References
External links
The Bridge Peer Counseling Center Website
Stanford University
Counseling organizations