Gallagher Bassett, a third-party claims administrator (TPA) managing claims on behalf of insurers, brokers, government bodies, and self-insured organisations across every Australian state and territory and employing more than 2,000 claims professionals, has released a limited-edition anniversary Gentle Bear to mark the longevity of its community trauma support program. According to a media release, emergency service workers have distributed more than 18,000 bears to children following traumatic incidents across Australia since the program began.
The Gentle Bear program started in South Australia through a collaboration between Gallagher Bassett and South Australia Police, with bears given to officers to hand out to children involved in serious traffic accidents or domestic violence. According to Gallagher Bassett’s own published materials, the program has been running since 2007 and has since expanded to emergency services across every jurisdiction in which the company operates in Australia. The bears serve as an emotional aid to provide comfort and reassurance to children in the immediate aftermath of a distressing situation.
The program also carries a secondary purpose that connects it to one of the most financially significant pressures in Australian workers’ compensation today. The press release notes that the program was designed not only to support children in distress, but also to help reduce post-traumatic stress among the first responders who distribute the bears – a cohort that sits at the centre of a growing and costly psychological injury claims problem for insurers and TPAs nationally.
One mother, whose two sons received bears following a shooting incident, described the program’s effect on her family. “My son was involved in a shooting. He was only 11 years old, and my younger son was 8. During a police visit, an officer offered my two boys a Gentle Bear each. My younger son gladly accepted his bear, but my eldest was reluctant, wanting to be brave in front of the police officer,” she said.
Her younger son named his bear Duncan and slept with it each night. Days later, the attending officer arranged a second bear – named Bruce – for the older child. “Bruce has been on my eldest son’s bed since that day. Seeing my children face such violence and trauma was heartbreaking. But seeing them hold the bears reminded me that, even amongst the fear and chaos, there were good people looking after them,” she said. That experience reflects the type of acute trauma that, when left without structured support, can develop into longer-term psychological harm – for both the children involved and the emergency workers responding to the scene. It is precisely this early-stage intervention logic that the insurance industry, regulators, and scheme managers are now investing in at scale.
Safe Work Australia’s Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025 report recorded a 14.7% increase in serious mental health injury claims in a single year, rising from 15,300 to 17,600 claims in 2023-24. Mental health conditions now account for 12% of all serious claims – the highest proportion ever recorded – and have increased by 161% over the past decade, the largest growth of any injury category.
Safe Work Australia CEO Marie Boland, writing in the agency’s Evidence Matters 2025 publication, noted that “the sharp rise in psychological injury claims has also shaped our policy response and future priorities,” adding that the agency had partnered with Monash University to explore how the workers’ compensation claims process can affect workers’ mental health and recovery. Workers with a psychological injury are off work for an average of 35.7 weeks, almost five times longer than other serious injury claims, with a median compensation payout of $67,400 compared to $16,300 for other injuries.
The financial pattern is consistent across jurisdictions. In a May 2025 submission to the NSW Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) noted that in Victoria, psychological injury claims now make up 16% of all claims, compared to only 2% in 1985, and that in NSW the average cost of a psychological injury claim has risen from $146,000 in 2019-20 to $288,542 in 2024-25. The ICA stated: “A coordinated effort involving governments, regulators, insurers, and health professionals to address existing and emerging issues would help ease pressure on workers’ compensation schemes while ensuring the needs of injured people are met, providing certainty for employers and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the schemes.”
Changes to the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act have also simplified the workers’ compensation claims process for first responders diagnosed with PTSD under the Comcare scheme, introducing a PTSD presumption under which eligible Commonwealth and ACT government first responders – including Australian Federal Police employees, ambulance officers, paramedics, firefighters, and emergency services communications operators – do not need to prove their PTSD had a work-related cause.
The regulatory signal on early intervention has become more direct. WorkSafe Queensland data shows that 5.1% of accepted physical injury claims where a worker has time off work result in an accepted secondary psychological injury – a rate that has doubled over the past five years – with affected workers spending an average of 303 days away from work and average claim costs of $130,785. Queensland’s Workers’ Compensation Regulatory Services has announced targeted audits of all Queensland insurers in 2026-27, assessing compliance with obligations to minimise the risk of secondary psychological injuries.
Industry research published in May 2026 reinforces the case for early action. Sedgwick’s report on early workplace injury prevention found that 21.3% of Australia’s 146,700 serious workers’ compensation claims recorded in 2023-24 resulted in 13 or more weeks of lost time, and that the likelihood of a worker returning to work drops to around 70% after 20 days away and approximately 35% after 70 days. “By engaging employees early, providing immediate guidance and support, and removing barriers to care, organisations can help people recover sooner and return to work safely and confidently,” said Christina Wunder, head of Sedgwick Health Solutions in Australia.
Pete Nicholson (pictured), CEO of Gallagher Bassett Australia, connected the anniversary – which the company describes as its 20th – to the company’s broader purpose. “For 20 years, Gentle Bear has provided comfort to children and families during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. The anniversary bear gives us an opportunity to celebrate that legacy, recognise the emergency service workers who bring the program to life, and share the stories of the people it has supported. Gentle Bear reflects our purpose in action: supporting people through difficult moments, strengthening communities, and providing comfort when it is needed most,” Nicholson said.
For brokers holding emergency services, public sector, or high-trauma-exposure accounts, the Gentle Bear program illustrates a principle that now carries direct regulatory weight: structured support at the point of traumatic incident reduces the probability of that incident becoming a compensation event. With Safe Work Australia’s own CEO flagging psychological injury claims as a national policy priority, the ICA calling for coordinated action across governments and the insurance sector, and Queensland regulators now auditing insurer compliance on secondary psychological injury obligations, the question of what happens in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic workplace event sits at the centre of the coverage and risk management conversation.
