Gallagher Bassett’s (GB) Gentle Bear Program strives to comfort children experiencing traumatic situations.

An additional delivery of Gentle Bears has been recently made to Victoria Police. The bears will be given to staff operating in the Hume and Fawkner Family Investigation Unit to assist young children that have experienced family violence.

The teddy bears serve as an emotional aid to distract a child’s attention from the immediate, distressing situation by providing a recognisable, reassuring and safe object to latch on to.

A member from the Hume and Fawkner Family Investigation Unit shared a story about one of the gentle bears,

“The Hug Me Bear was delivered to the young girl by members from the unit. The smile on the little girl’s face when she hugged the bear and the tears in her mum’s eyes identified to me that these bears could be of therapeutic benefit to the children living with family violence.”

John McNamara, GB Australia CEO, was grateful to hand over the bears to such a worthwhile cause.

“Our Gentle Bears are a symbol of caring and compassion. We hope our Gentle Bears continue to comfort and support children experiencing traumatic situations,” said John.

Gentle Bear has been busy in the past year. He has expanded his mission to Western Australia to support young children with disabilities, toured the Northern Territory to support his friends at the NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services, and even visited the Jane Goodall Chimpanzee Rehab Centre in South Africa.

Read more about Gentle Bear and his adventures here.