Bunnies for Bravehearts

Thank you to everyone who gifted a plush bunny to a child in trauma counselling as part of the Bunnies for Bravehearts project 2024!

Bravehearts provides specialist trauma counselling to hundreds of children affected by child sexual abuse every year. The Bunnies for Bravehearts project helps to support our trauma counselling service and the children receiving counselling annually during the Easter season.

The 2024 Bunnies for Bravehearts project raised over $25,000 to support our counselling services, meaning every child in Bravehearts’ counselling over the next 24 months will receive their very own plush comfort bunny.

How it works

• Supporters donate $50 to the project and in return, we gift a beautiful, cuddly plush bunny to a child in trauma counselling.
• Supporters receive a thank you card in recognition of your kind donation.
• Supporters’ donations are fully tax-deductible.

“I have had a young client continually bring her bunny to her counselling sessions. A lot of my clients’ parents tell me their child sleeps with their bunny.”

~ Greg, Bravehearts Clinician

“I have an 8-year-old client who has named her bunny ‘Bonnie’. We have incorporated the Bunny into her self-regulation strategies. She sleeps with Bonnie and if she has a nightmare she whispers to it, “That was a bad dream, I am safe,” and strokes the bunny until she falls back to sleep. She reports that she has been having less nightmares since using this approach.”

~ Mark, Bravehearts Clinician

The benefits of using soft toys in a therapeutic setting

Giving a child a soft toy to care for has several benefits in a therapeutic setting, including helping to dispel fears and worries and enabling the expression of thoughts and feelings through play (1,2).

The use of soft toys, such as teddy bears is also reported to be an effective communication and educational tool for children in therapy, helping to increase their understanding of child sexual abuse and its prevention via role-play and demonstration (2). The tactile and soothing nature of soft toys can help the children feel safe, identify good and bad touch, and explore different conflicts and problems without limitations (3).

References

1. Maksimov, D. (2022). The transformation of mental trauma in children using the Hibuki-therapy method. Psychological Journal, 8 (59).
2. Rashid, A. et.al., (2021). Healthcare Professionals’ views for the content of the Teddy Bear Hospital for a Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Module. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 30 (4).
3. Malchiodi, C. (2019) Trauma informed art therapy and sexual abuse in children. In Goodyear-Brown, P. Handbook of Child Sexual Abuse (pp.341-354).