About Us
About The Founder
About Patches
P.A.T.C.H.E.S. is a loveable bear created to help children recognize, name, and express their feelings. His side pocket holds a collection of Feeling Faces, while his front pocket displays the face a child chooses to show how they feel. This gives children a gentle, nonverbal way to communicate when finding the right words feels difficult.
About The Book
P.A.T.C.H.E.S. & the Feelings Tree follows a kindhearted little bear who becomes overwhelmed when his friends argue. In Twilight Forest, he meets Karissa Hope and discovers Heart Rock, the Feelings Tree, and ten Feeling Faces. Through this gentle adventure, children learn to name their emotions, express what they feel, and find comfort in friendship and hope.
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Helpful ideas, inspiring stories, and practical guidance to help children understand, name, and express their feelings.
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Helping Children Through Big Changes
A new school, a new house, a new baby, a goodbye. Change asks children to give up something familiar before they can see what replaces it, and the gap between the two is where most of the difficulty lives.
Why Every Feeling Deserves To Be Heard
It is tempting to sort feelings into good ones and bad ones. Children learn that sorting very quickly, and once they have learned it, half of what they feel goes into hiding.
Children are universally drawn to Patches the Bear, his pocketful of feelings, sweet and searching eyes, and the fuzzy hugs he doles out. His paw prints have served thousands of children along with extra special fuzzy hugs for the following: Childhelp therapists and their Good-Touch/Bad-Touch® personal body safety curriculum; Child Life Specialists at Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital; Good Grief Resource Centre for Bereavement; military families within the Army National Guard and Marines, whose children are coping with deployments, wounded warriors, fallen heroes and reintegration; pre-k, kindergarten, and lower elementary classrooms and guidance counselors; police and fire departments; Head Start programs; the Red Cross including children in homeless shelters; safe houses and shelters for children who have been abused & neglected; select special needs programs and the Sunshine Foundation.
With an entrepreneurial spirit and a message of hope, “AngelicPreneur” Kathylee Forrester and her popular and adorable sidekick, Patches the Bear, empower children with a pocketful of feelings in the wonderful new adventure, Patches and The Feelings Tree. By literally capturing the biblical phrase “Beauty for Ashes,” Kathylee has provided a nationally recognized, empowered voice and advocacy for children for over two decades. Driven by her love for God, children and the inspiring message of hope from her challenging youth, Kathylee’s mission is to build a strong foundation of communication for young children.
After successfully launching Patches the Bear and book and making sure those children who needed him the most were taken care of, Kathylee stepped away for a 16-year sabbatical. During this time, she dedicated herself to homeschooling her son, intensely studying the social-emotional development of high functioning Autism. This deeply personal journey allowed Kathylee to master exact social emotional frameworks that will help all children thrive, learning about their feelings and how to inspire purpose in their lives.
More than a comforting companion, P.A.T.C.H.E.S. helps families, educators, counselors, and caregivers begin meaningful conversations about emotions. By making feelings easier to see and understand, he helps children feel heard, supported, and less alone while building confidence in expressing what is happening inside.
