GB and The Police Association Victoria (TPAV) have been working collaboratively over the last two years to improve services to injured police officers particularly for those with a mental health injury.
GB recently partnered with TPAV to co-fund the visitation of Dr. Kevin Gilmartin, a US-based ex police officer, psychologist and author of the book, “Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement”.
During his tour, Dr. Gilmartin presented to Victorian police officers and their families on maintaining and improving their quality of life both personally and professionally.
He shared his unique insights into how the job of policing can negatively impact the wellbeing of police officers and their families and encouraged the audience to use proactive and holistic coping strategies to deal with the challenges and stresses of work and daily life in general.
Andrea Moffatt, Business Account Manager at GB spoke highly of the presentations and the key messages Dr. Gilmartin shared,
“The key message that GB took away from Dr. Gilmartin is to never underestimate the enormous benefits of physical exercise for your mental wellbeing."
"Dr Gilmartin spoke about the findings from one of his studies that just 22 minutes of exercise per day helps with the management of mental illness and depression. We all know exercise makes the brain feel good! GB was honored to share this experience with over 3000 police officers", said Andrea.
Together with TPAV, GB attended each location - Melbourne, Bendigo, Geelong and Moe with our Victoria Police claims team and GB’s Gentle Bear also attending. We distributed over 1000 Gentle Bears to police officers and their families.
This commitment will continue beyond 2017 with a view to providing more roadshows in collaboration with TPAV in the future.
