The post Teen connection appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>Patrina O’Connor-Paynter doesn’t buy into that.
“I wouldn’t say that they’re less willing to do so,” said the executive director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters charity.
“Covid did impact them. They had missed key social development windows, reduced in-person interaction, loss of routines, increased isolation and we see higher social anxiety.
“But you know, some of the teens did bounce back quickly. Some are still rebuilding their social skills, depending on their age range.”
All of them, according to Ms O’Connor-Paynter still need and want real-life connection — and that’s where BBBS steps in.
As well as its traditional one-on-one mentoring, where youngsters are matched with a specific adult ‘brother’ or ‘sister’, the charity offers a whole host of other ways for young people to benefit from the wisdom, guidance and life skills of their elders and connect with one another.
The broadened scope allows adults who can’t commit to being a mentor to still volunteer to help.
That might mean hosting a cooking class for young people, like community partner Carmen DeSilva, or taking part in a networking event for mothers, such as the one recently hosted by insurance company Chubb.
“We have a big community,” Ms O’Connor-Paynter explained.
“What we are trying to do at Big Brothers Big Sisters, outside of one-on-one matches, is to develop a community of people that look out for young people, a community where young people know that there are people watching out for them.
“There are people that care, that they’re being able to be exposed to [and that gives them] opportunities and experiences that they might not necessarily otherwise get. We’ve been able to see that happen.”
Evolving connections
She said it’s wrong for adults to assume teens want to disappear into their phones and avoid real-life interaction.
“People still long for connection but it just looks a little bit different from back when we grew up.”
She encourages adults to think about giving a little of their time to connect with the youngsters helped by BBBS.
“People in the community need to understand that everybody has something to offer. Everybody can make an impact on a young person.
“Just because you feel that they’re glued to a screen or you think that they’re disconnected, sometimes it’s just giving that listening ear and being there, instead of being so judgmental about them and the things that they do.
“It’s actually just showing interest and showing that you care.”
Ms O’Connor-Paynter said that even before the pandemic, BBBS noticed a “lot of our boys had challenges expressing themselves; the majority of them are being raised by a mom or a grandmother or a female”.
That led to a partnership with MASC, a male-centred counselling practice, which gets middle school and high school boys to meet once a week, express their feelings and take part in fun activities together. There is a primary school group too.
“The boys enjoy it,” she said. “It also gets them to bond with each other and develop a network amongst each other, because one of the things that we really want to bring back is the family network, where our family members at Big Brothers Big Sisters can also look out for each other.”
MASC is also the partner for a Mothers Raising Sons scheme.
Dedicated girl-power sessions, meanwhile, were launched with psychologist Dr Jana Outerbridge, with a focus on developing leadership skills.
BBBS has now partnered with the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority for middle and high school-aged girls to take on community service projects.
Family
Ms O’Connor-Paynter, who has been at BBBS since 2008, uses the words “family” and “community” a lot; she knows how important both are in giving young people the best start in life.
“We’re developing family,” she said. “One of the things that really resonates with me is that we have children that are as young as five, but we have young men and young ladies that are as old as 18 that are in the programme.
“Whatever events that we’re having, we still have 16- and 17-year-olds that come out as well and it shows me that they feel a part of something.
“We’ve had young people tell us they feel like they belong and they feel like they’re a part of a programme that cares about them.”
She paused, then added: “Actually not a programme, a family.”
Opportunities for “in-person” events are many at BBBS and they are popular.
Giving a lie to the idea that young people want to isolate themselves, Ms O’Connor-Paynter said: “It’s so funny because for most of our events, we have to cap the limit.”
One such example is her grandfather Eugene O’Connor’s annual kite-making workshops.
“We see some of the moms coming out,” she says. “We see some of the ‘bigs’ coming out to help.
“We see the children coming and wanting to embrace themselves in Bermuda culture.”
Ms O’Connor-Paynter shares that BBBS, which formed in 1978, has 180 children on its books, with about 130 “definitely able to say that they’re serviced regularly”.
In her line of work, she simply doesn’t see a “whole generation of disconnected” youth.
She said: “I think that they experienced a deep disruption [during the pandemic] but I think it makes them want connection more.
“They still long for connection and they still long to be connected with people.”
She adds: “The pandemic showed us that we need people.
“We need human interaction. We need human touch. And so do young people.”
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]]>The post Warmer seas, stronger storms? appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>Most of us only think about storms when one is heading towards us and we start to make preparations to stay safe.
Yet each of these everyday activities contributes — even on a tiny scale — to the climate change that may influence the strength and behaviour of hurricanes affecting Bermuda in the future.
The overwhelming majority of scientists agree that human activity is driving climate change.
The fossil fuels we burn for our air conditioning and vehicles are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, while beef is one of the most emissions-intensive foods in the world.
Those emissions drive global warming, including increased sea temperatures, which increase the potential for stronger hurricanes.
Andy Moore, a natural catastrophe modeller at Arch Reinsurance, explained that waters near the ocean’s surface have warmed significantly globally and in the Atlantic Basin over the past 20 to 30 years.
The same is true for Bermuda: the oceans surrounding the island are about 0.75°C warmer now than in the late 1900s.
Mr Moore said: “All else being equal, warmer oceans provide additional energy to hurricanes, giving them the potential to become stronger.
“The warming we have seen thus far has raised the maximum potential intensity of storms in our vicinity around 5mph.”
‘New normal’
Francis Kredensor, Bermuda Weather Service’s deputy director, said while there was “no clear signal” on climate change having an impact on the number of hurricanes, we may already be seeing overall tropical cyclone intensity and associated rainfall increasing.
He said many interconnected factors went into hurricane frequency and intensity, so it was hard for researchers to “definitively” say that any changes to date were due to the overall effects of climate change.
“But the fact that two-thirds of Atlantic hurricane seasons since 1995 have been assessed as being ‘above normal’ or ‘extremely active’ points to us being in a new normal, whatever the cause,” he added.
Climate Central, an independent group of scientists researching climate change, tracks sea temperatures daily on its Climate Shift Index.
Data from the index in mid-May gave the ocean temperature around Bermuda as 22.4°C, which was 1°C hotter than usual for the date.
The index suggested climate change made the unusually warm ocean conditions “at least three times more likely”.
Mark Guishard, chief operating officer at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences and the author of the 2022 report Climate Change and Bermuda, said oceans absorbed around 90 per cent of the excess heat produced by human-induced warming.
“At Bios, we’ve been monitoring the warming of the surface of the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda for over 70 years,” he said.
“Future model projections indicate that upper ocean warming will accelerate in the coming decades.”
Does the evidence point to more intense storms reaching Bermuda in future?
Dr Guishard said: “The energy available to support hurricane development is accumulating.”
Mr Kredensor said the single biggest factor affecting storm intensity was ocean temperatures so “all else being equal, as waters continue to warm, stronger storms are increasingly likely and they’re likely to reach further north”.
Mr Moore agreed. He said: “The Atlantic Basin has already seen a significant trend in the proportion of Atlantic hurricanes that become major hurricanes [category 3 to 5] and this proportion is forecast to increase further.”
He said the heightened risk was also expected in Bermuda and was detailed in a 2024 government report on climate change by Smith Warner International Ltd.
That study concluded that Bermuda’s future would “likely be characterised by more intense hurricanes”, bringing higher winds and greater rainfall.
It said a likely increase in rainfall rate of between 20 and 33 per cent was projected, particularly near the hurricane’s core, by the century’s end.
Mr Kredensor said: “There is increasing confidence in research pointing towards climate change causing increases in overall storm intensity going forward, as well as heavier rains associated with tropical cyclones.”
Bermuda is ‘exceptionally vulnerable’
The Government has acknowledged the challenges posed by climate change, including warmer seas.
Former home affairs minister Walter Roban said in November 2024: “Though Bermuda’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is minimal, we find ourselves on the front lines of climate impacts.
“Like other small island and developing states, Bermuda is exceptionally vulnerable to climate impacts.”
The Smith Warner study cited figures from a 2021 report by ocean climate scientist Samantha Hallam and others, which analysed tropical cyclone intensity and potential intensity in the subtropical Atlantic around Bermuda from an ocean heat content perspective.
The authors found the maximum wind speeds for hurricanes in Bermuda had increased 30 knots from 1955 to 2019. They measured an average increase of 7.7 knots per decade from 1980 to 2009.
The Smith Warner report noted that “in recent years, Bermuda has experienced several significant storms that caused widespread flooding and damage”.
It said 2014’s Hurricane Gonzalo caused “extensive damage” and the same year saw the “first season in recorded history to feature two hurricane landfalls in Bermuda”.
No one can say exactly what Bermuda’s hurricane seasons will look like in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time — but the evidence suggests we must prepare for stronger storms.
Dr Guishard, in his 2022 report, said one more major storm per decade in our region was projected by a few modelling studies.
The Smith Warner report flagged up the “necessity to revise building codes to address this escalating threat in the medium to long term”.
Kim Smith, executive director of Bermuda Environment Sustainability Taskforce, said we could all do our part on climate change but the threat we face needs both individual and collective efforts.
“What we need from the Government is for there to be a national policy and action plan for the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change,” she said.
“In the absence of that, we might just be shooting in the dark.”
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]]>The post Rock solid legacy appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>Tragically, the head of the island’s oldest construction supply company died in December, but his daughters Alexis and Emily Biermann have a plan to celebrate their one-of-a-kind father and the 80th anniversary of the family business that day.
Alexis, 38, the eldest of the two, explained that the company was incorporated on Boxing Day 1946, but their dad’s birthday felt like a more fitting date for a party.
“We’re very honoured to get to be part of a really massive legacy on the island,” she said.
“We’re the third generation of Biermanns who are involved in the company now.
“We’re really, really excited to see where we’re going in the future.”
She added: “Our dad was a very interesting and wonderful guy, but he was also very old school.
‘He had a way of doing things and Emily and I come from a very different background and a very different world.”
Emily, 36, who recently took over as CEO of Bierman Concrete Products, said the anniversary celebration was still at the ideas stage.
“We’re brainstorming with a marketing agency. Nothing is fixed at this point, but I think as soon as we have a more clear idea, we’ll definitely make a big deal of it.”
Family affair
Neither sister planned to join the family firm, which was launched by their grandparents Herbert and Stella, as construction on the island ramped up after the Second World War, and then run for many decades by Mike.
The firm, which mined its own aggregate for many years, was the “central tent peg of the whole family structure” during their childhood, according to Alexis.
She recalled “fond memories” of sledding down the “ag pile” at its headquarters on Lolly’s Well Road, Smith’s.
Both women — who, like their mother Gale, use the traditional German spelling of Biermann — moved to North America, where they forged lives and careers, but they remained close with their parents.
When Mike became ill with cancer, they pitched in to help and it soon became clear that they did not want to let go of everything their formidable dad had built.
Emily said: “My husband and I made the tough decision to move back to the island [from New Hampshire] and really dive just headfirst into the day-to-day operations of the company.”
Her husband, Bermudian Dylan Robinson, is now facilities manager at Bierman’s and Alexis, who lives in Canada, is a director of the company.
Alexis said: “The real act of passing the torch has been within the last year or so as dad got sicker.
“We have felt really happy to be able to come on board and help with that.”
She stressed how pleased she was to see her younger sibling take over the reins of Bierman’s, while she will retain “more of a high-level involvement” from overseas.
“A lot going forward is going to be Emily’s vision and I couldn’t have more faith and excitement to see how things unfold if I tried,” said Alexis.
Bouncing back
Emily explained how Bierman’s, a major supplier of concrete block, “used to be an absolute bull in this industry, but within the last couple of decades, it’s sort of slowed down a lot”.
That is set to change, according to the sisters.
“We are in the middle of growing our workforce again and growing our fleet again,” explained Emily.
“Right now, we only have two trucks, but we have a third one coming … Bierman’s itself only employs four people, with a fifth starting in February.”
The firm also works closely with a company called Precision, run by Frank Fagundo, which supplies a lot of its labour force.
Alexis said: “We’re very much in a growth mindset right now. There’s going to be a lot of upgrades, a lot of new equipment, a lot of new faces.”
One idea is to build precast concrete housing to assist with the lack of affordable homes on the island.
Emily said: “You essentially have the precast frames that you fill with poured concrete, versus the traditional [concrete] block and rebar and mortar.
“It is a tad bit less individualised, but I’ve seen some really cool technology of how you can slot the modular pieces together and build a structure that’s all your own.”
She added: “Dad had a couple of examples, one specifically right next to the company, of precast concrete housing, so I would love to revitalise that again and see if that would be an option to get Bermudians to be first time home buyers or builders.
“I would really like Bierman’s to have a legacy in helping alleviate those challenges for not only Bermudians, but young Bermudians.”
Another hope is to get the company’s quarry permit reinstated.
“We’ve quarried our own limestone aggregate for the majority of the life span of Bierman’s being open and operating, but it’s only really been in the last decade and a bit that we’ve not been able to do that,” said Emily.
She said “there been an eternal struggle up here on the Smith’s property” about what the company should be allowed to do, but they planned to approach the issue in a gentler way than their dad.
Alexis added that with hefty construction costs in Bermuda, the plan could benefit the wider community, as the company could pass along savings to customers from quarrying its own aggregate.
Alexis said 2025 was “hell” for the family, due to their father’s illness and death, but taking on his business had been healing.
“It gives me a lot of peace and a lot of joy to be able to know that we, as a family, we really came together, we really rallied, and we were able to give dad the peace of mind to know that we got this,” she said.
“[We showed him] you have done all the work you were meant to do in this lifetime and you can rest in peace, truly.”
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]]>The post For the greater good appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>That description came from Abigail Clifford, the chief executive of B&FM, the health insurance firm [now called Allshores] that awarded Ms Swan DeGraff its 2025 Postgraduate John Wight Scholarship for $20,000.
Listening to the medical student explain her “clear passion for public health” it’s easy to see why she would have garnered such praise.
“I feel like I’ve done a lot of public health work,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of community work.
“I was a candy striper, a BHB volunteer, I worked for a daily mental health clinic, I was a lab technician during Covid.
“All of my work, for all of my 25 years, it feels like has been committed to the community.”
That ethos is now informing a research project she has embarked on while pursuing her four-year Doctor of Medicine degree at St George’s University in Grenada.
Ms Swan DeGraff is heading a diabetes study which is intended to improve public health outcomes in Grenada, Trinidad and Bermuda.
She explained: “The inspiration for the research … is that a lot of the research that we have on diabetes is from the American Heart Association or American stuff like that.
“I want to create an opportunity to get research and data on Caribbean persons.”
Tackling a public health crisis
She and two fellow students have created a diabetes healthcare pamphlet, aimed both at raising awareness and surveying the level of knowledge in the community about the killer disease.
Ms Swan DeGraff has seen the difficulty many Grenadians have in accessing medical care and the first focus group for the study will be on the Caribbean island.
“However, once we get Grenada off, settled in and in rotation, we want to branch out to Bermuda and Trinidad,” she said.
According to the Ministry of Health, more than 13 per cent of Bermuda’s population has been diagnosed with diabetes, making it a public health crisis.
Ms Swan DeGraff said Bermudians had access to excellent information about diabetes, especially compared to other islands, so she has looked for “holes” in terms of awareness to tailor the project to local needs.
“I found some holes that I want to fill in regard to education on diabetes,” she said.
She and her classmates are seeking funding for the scheme.
“We’re applying for two grants currently, because all those pamphlets have to be printed and then we have to afford the database to get it done.
“We want to do printed pamphlets because we understand that there’s a certain population that still is in love with paper and things in their hands, so we want to cater to them, and then the rest of it will be digital.”
High hopes
The project has been time consuming, but she has managed to juggle it with her medical studies.
“Even though I’ve been working on this diabetes project for maybe two years now, I’m going to be finishing school in like five years, so the research is going to grow with me as well.
“There’s no rush and there’s no timeline, because as soon as we get the data, we’re going to be able to do … the peer reviewed articles, which take years upon years to actually finish.”
She added: “I’m hoping that once I finish residency and I’m a doctor in Bermuda in the next five or six years, that my research is done.”
Ms Swan DeGraff, who has already achieved a bachelor’s degree with honours in biomedical sciences from AdventHealth University in Florida, recently moved to London to do a year of clinical work in hospitals affiliated with St George’s University.
She said she chose the Grenada school as it was where her mentor, Danielle Simons, of Island Health Services, trained to be a doctor, as well as Kyjuan Brown, of Northshore Medical Centre.
Like them, Ms Swan DeGraff, a cofounder of Bermuda Youth Connect, plans to return home to practise medicine.
The former Gilbert Institute and Bermuda Institute pupil wants to become an emergency room doctor at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and has already had the chance to work summers there as an intern, getting hands-on ER experience.
Having previously thought she would become a radiologist, her time at KEMH crystallised her love of emergency medical care. She said: “Where better to serve the public in hospital than in emergency care.”
Ms Swan DeGraff laughed as she said of Chikezie Dean Okereke, the Chief of Emergency at Bermuda Hospitals Board: “I would love to have his job one day and I told him, too!”
She has benefited from a BHB scholarship, as well as financial awards for her graduate studies from the Bermuda Public Services Union, the Further Education Award from the Government and the Fessenden-Trott Scholarship from Butterfield Bank.
The scholarships have made all the difference in enabling her to pursue her dream career.
“It’s reassuring that people are seeing me as worthy of a scholarship,” she said. “I’m committed to my community and it’s nice to see that they want to give back to me in that way.”
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]]>The post Bright lights, big city appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>The former Berkeley Institute deputy head boy, who is already on his way to earning an actuarial science degree at St John’s University in New York, didn’t miss a beat when asked if mathematics was always his strong suit.
“I did very well in all of the academic realms, but mathematics had to be my favourite, from when I was a little boy,” he grinned.
“I love math. I love math so much. I love how math is very definitive.”
Happily, his passion for mathematics is matched by his ability with numbers and a rock-solid work ethic.
He decided he wanted to be an actuary after guidance from a careers adviser at Whitney Institute Middle School.
Then, after two years at Berkeley, he passed an exam enabling him to join the school’s dual enrolment programme with Bermuda College.
The teenager juggled classes between the two campuses, ultimately graduating in May last year with an associate degree in actuarial science, a month before he received his high school diploma.
He also factored in church commitments, prefect duties, Berkeley’s drum line and a part-time job with Hiscox insurance company.
“It was difficult,” Mr Waldron admitted, of embarking on degree-level studies while still a schoolboy.
“Any new challenge comes with these difficulties, but the biggest thing for me in managing the difficulty and increased intensity was really just learning to manage my time very well.”
He added: “Honestly, I would say it was nothing but the support of my family, my church community and God Himself and His grace and mercy that got me through that entire period.”
Staying grounded
Mr Waldron described “many sleepless nights, many stressed-out days” and how “many friendships were tested”.
But he said his faith kept him grounded and Berkeley’s motto — respice finem or keep the end in view — was an inspiration.
“I know it’s a bit corny using my school’s motto like that,” he said. “But that motto is there for a reason because if you don’t keep that end in view, you will forget why you even started.
“Motivation is a big factor in staying the course.”
Mr Waldron’s academic prowess, along with his dedication and focus, impressed his college lecturers, particularly economics professor Craig Simmons, who was “very instrumental” in telling him about the insurance industry and advising him on future university studies.
He recalled attending a college fair in late 2024, approaching the stand for St John’s University and being “shocked” to discover that staff there already knew about him, thanks to a heads-up from Mr Simmons.
“So they immediately said ‘get your application in and we’re prepared to offer you a scholarship’. I got in and I guess that’s where the real brunt of the journey began.”
Mr Waldron so impressed St John’s University that it offered him a four-year scholarship, worth $36,000 a year, to complete his undergraduate studies and potentially follow them with a one-year Master of Finance degree.
He also received scholarships from the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies, the Association of Bermuda International Companies, the Elliot Primary School Alumni Board, the PwC Head Start programme and a Belco Mathematics Award. His church, Heritage Worship Centre, also gave financial support.
“I’m grateful, very, very grateful,” he said.
Sheer joy
His favourite story about his journey is when the acceptance letter from St John’s arrived.
“I was checking my e-mail maybe five times every single day waiting for this letter and when it finally came through, with the scholarship offer, I screamed so loudly and I remember I ran to my mother’s room and I showed her.
“We almost cried because we were so happy that these steps were being ordered by God and everything was falling directly into line.”
He adds: “Then the reality kind of set in, maybe about a month later that, my goodness, I’m going to be living in New York City.
“Prior to that, I had never been to New York City or even New York State.”
After a full-time internship at Hiscox over the summer, Mr Waldron moved to the Big Apple last August, at the tender age of 17.
He said: “It was a bit overwhelming at first, especially … when the reality started setting in that I was going to be out here on my own … It was just going to be me.”
His mom, aunt and sister accompanied him there to help him settle in and he remembers vividly the moment they left.
“As soon as they turned the corner and they were out of my sight, I broke down in tears because this was my first time away from home, away from family in a big, scary environment where there’s probably at least ten times the population of my community.”
Thanks to his associate degree, he entered the second year of his four-year bachelor’s degree programme.
The university campus, where Mr Waldron lives, is on Union Turnpike in Queens, and he has a short walk to classes.
He loves city life and has become good friends with his three roommates.
“It’s such a big city and big environment but most of the faculty that I’ve met here have been so warm and welcoming and you just feel like you joined one big family,” he said.
“I haven’t really been here a full year yet, but St John’s is a lovely school, a very family-oriented community, very warm, very fun, very active.”
Once again, he is juggling a busy workload and extracurricular activities, but his grade-point average is where it needs to be and he has found a welcoming nearby Caribbean church.
He credits the Bermuda College programme with teaching him organisational skills and encourages others to consider it.
Although he loves New York, he looks forward to one day having a career in insurance back on island.
“Bermuda is going to be my home forever,” he says. “There’s nothing like home.”
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]]>The post Teaching boys to be men appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>Bermuda is no exception. A steering committee focused on domestic abuse reform was recently appointed and there are plans for a specific domestic violence bill to be tabled in Parliament before the summer.
One question perhaps worth considering during consultation on the topic is whether the island should follow Britain’s headline-grabbing plan to introduce anti-misogyny lessons for schoolboys.
The UK government, announcing its scheme late last year, insisted it would ensure the “next generation of girls will be better protected from violence” and that young males would be steered away from harmful misogynistic influences.
Laurie Shiell, executive director of Bermuda’s Centre Against Abuse, praised the proposal as a “positive, evidence informed step”.
She said: “Domestic abuse and sexual assault are gender-based crimes: they disproportionately affect women and are rooted in unequal power, gender norms and misogyny.
“Early education that challenges entitlement, sexual objectification and norms condoning coercion do play a vital role in helping to prevent the attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence.”
Ms Shiell said Bermuda would benefit from a comparable school-based programme but stressed it needed to be part of a broader prevention strategy.
“Teaching respectful relationships, consent and nonviolence can reduce risk factors associated with domestic and sexual abuse and help build strong bystander norms,” she said.
“However, school-based lessons alone are unlikely to produce sustained population-level change, unless they are embedded within a coordinated, multi-sector approach that includes enhanced support services for adults, including parenting programmes, workplace policies that address gender inequality and misogyny, and a government-led task force with an accompanying national awareness campaign.”
Target the root cause
Juanae Crockwell, executive director of the Women’s Resource Centre, agreed the intent of the UK plan was positive.
“Its potential impact will largely depend on the curriculum itself,” she added.
“Based on what has been outlined, the focus appears to be on promoting healthy relationships, consent, respect and responsible digital behaviour, rather than simply labelling misogyny as a disciplinary issue. That distinction matters.
“When education is designed to build socio-emotional skills and challenge harmful norms in a developmentally appropriate way, it has a greater chance of addressing the root causes of gender-based violence, rather than responding to harm after it has already occurred.”
Debi Ray-Rivers, founder and executive director of Saving Children and Revealing Secrets, a child sexual abuse prevention charity, suggested school-based schemes could only go so far and advocated a “360 approach”.
“To get to the roots of misogyny, we must start with the home,” she insisted. “Hurt people go on to hurt people. If abuse begins and occurs in the home, how can schools help?”
She said any money spent on anti-misogyny lessons for youngsters “should be mirrored to the amount of money spent on training and awareness for parents and guardians of children”.
Ms Ray-Rivers added: “We can tell a child not to do something until the cows come home, we can invest millions in curriculums in consent and the dangers of sharing intimate images, but this message must be reinforced at home.”
Bermuda’s education minister hasn’t yet commented on the UK plan, but Ben Smith, the new One Bermuda Alliance leader and shadow education minister, “strongly” backed it.
Mr Smith said: “I believe Bermuda should seriously consider adopting a similar approach.
“We cannot ignore that misogyny, gender-based violence and toxic online influences are shaping how many young men form their ideas about women, relationships and masculinity.
“Early intervention matters, because these attitudes do not suddenly appear in adulthood. They are learned, normalised and, too often left unchallenged, they create an unhealthy culture.”
Gender expectations
Explaining its plan, the UK Government pointed to the need to counter the influence of popular male influencers who share misogynistic content, such as Andrew Tate.
Carla Zuill, a Bermudian entrepreneur living in the UK, said: “A few years ago, at my son’s high school in Manchester, students were asked not to discuss the views of Tate in the classroom because it was obvious that his view of women was not the most positive.
“It was literally like he had young men in a chokehold.”
Mother-of-three Ms Zuill added: “The fact that lessons like this have to be implemented in the UK system says a lot about how we have declined as a society as a whole.”
She welcomed the idea of the classes but also felt learning at home was key, recognising that she had to readjust her own parenting after her daughter pointed out that she placed different domestic expectations on her children, according to gender.
“As a mother of two sons who are 16 and 20, I always taught them that women are to be respected at all times and in all circumstances.
“I trained them from a young age to hold doors open for women and have had endless discussions with them about ensuring that they do not see females as the weaker sex.
“But yet I still subconsciously was sending them the wrong messages around gender roles.”
In Bermuda, the Centre Against Abuse, along with the Family Centre and Beyond Rugby programme, is already piloting a Coaching Boys into Men scheme.
Ms Shiell said it targeted young male and female athletes with an emphasis on building respect, integrity and nonviolence, teaching consent, reducing insulting and sexualised language and behaviour, discouraging bragging about sexual reputation and helping participants recognise when anger or aggression crosses the line into abuse.
She said anti-misogyny education needed to focus on positive masculine role models and not shame boys, as well as create safe spaces for them to express vulnerability and, importantly, be “delivered consistently, over time”.
Ms Shiell explained: “CBIM is an evidence-based programme that is explicitly designed to engage boys constructively over a period of time and thus mitigate alienation.”
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]]>The post Anti-stigma efforts paying off appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>That notion of our interconnectedness as humans, the power of community and the need to break down barriers is at the heart of ongoing efforts to remove stigma around mental health for youths in Bermuda.
A campaign which ran in May with the tagline ‘We are not an island’ included young people with lived experience of mental health challenges sharing their stories publicly.
Daniel Cavanagh, chief researcher at Bermuda College, who is involved in the anti-stigma initiatives, said that was a significant step for the island.
“One shift that’s really important in this whole narrative is that, even a year ago, no one thought that people would actually come forward and share their personal stories of mental illness,” he said.
“Everyone thought the stigma was just simply too bad.”
He added: “Since then, there have been 21 people that have been trained to share their stories. They’ve been champions that have been trained and that’s what we did in May.
“As part of the 23 events that were officially organised, five of them were social contact events, which means people came forward and shared their stories.”
Changing perceptions
Some events took place at schools and there was also a screening of the film Inside Out, with a panel discussion afterwards.
In October, a youth mental health summit took place, attended by hundreds of youngsters, with hundreds more attending a middle school roadshow.
Dr Cavanagh said those willing to talk about their own experiences, as part of a broader plan to improve youth mental health, were actively helping to change negative perceptions about mental illness.
“For what it’s worth, I think it’s the champions who have come forward and shared their stories that are the most important,” he said.
Stigma surrounding mental health is recognised internationally as one of the most significant barriers to effective mental healthcare.
In small communities, especially islands, it’s especially prevalent and harder to find the resources to tackle it.
But the Government of Bermuda and partners are now focused on doing so, after an adolescent mental health study carried out here in 2022 and 2023 — the first of its kind — confirmed, as expected, that stigma was a serious issue.
That same study, conducted by Dr Cavanagh for his PhD with the help of colleagues in the mental health field here, revealed that the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms among Bermuda’s adolescents surpassed global averages.
After analysing data from the study — collected from 76 per cent of students at Bermuda’s middle and senior schools — a raft of recommendations was drawn up and included in the island’s first youth mental health plan.
Dr Cavanagh said: “All of those recommendations are going to be easier to implement if we start by tackling the stigma.”
The youth study gave experts here a clear picture of the scale of the mental health challenges experienced by adolescents and enabled them to make a compelling argument for the work that needed doing.
Dr Cavanagh said: “We have, arguably, the best data in the region because no one else has conducted a national mental health study on such a scale in the Caribbean.
“And so, this gives us a really strong case for change because we can say, ‘Actually, this requires immediate attention to address.’”
Innovative methods
He described the efforts that have followed the study as “intensely collaborative” and he praised the Ministry of Health for its “really fantastic work with regards to coordinating national mental health anti-stigma efforts”.
Those involved include Vakita Basden, the Mental Health Anti-Stigma Chair for the Department of Health, and co-chair Aminah Simmons, as well as clinical psychologist Dr Shawnee Basden, who is the project manager for the Youth Mental Health Plan, Bermuda Hospitals Board, the Family Centre, MASC and Solstice Bermuda.
Dr Cavanagh explained that stigma causes people who need help to not reach out for it because of “fear that the problem will actually get worse by reaching out, by acknowledging that they have a problem”.
In his previous role as a teacher at Warwick Academy, he saw the effects of it first-hand, with students telling him they were reluctant to speak to a school counsellor, even when struggling mentally.
“There’s this real fear about people finding out everyone else’s business in small island communities, particularly like Bermuda,” he said.
Some innovative ways of dealing with mental health challenges were highlighted to young people as part of the 2025 mental health awareness efforts, such as Lego therapy and mindfulness techniques.
“One thing we’re trying to do is tackle beliefs about treatment, [such as] people thinking that therapy is just about going to someone’s room and talking,” said Dr Cavanagh.
“Actually, there’s so much more. There are so many different options out there in terms of promoting your self-care.”
An Australian, whose PhD is from the University of Melbourne, he chuckled as he explained that surf therapy is “exactly what you think it is”.
“Before you go out onto the water, you go through the theory behind surf therapy, you practise some breathing related techniques, some focused mindfulness techniques.
“And then you go out and try and be at one with nature in the water as part of your meditative and self-care practice.”
Participants who registered at the events in May were able to get a free session of surf or dog therapy.
Dr Cavanagh said there was much more planned to tackle youth mental health and there was a consensus on island that Bermuda was seeing real change in relation to stigma.
“What we’ve seen in the last 12 months, with regards to fighting stigma — many people, key community leaders, have said it’s the most progress they’ve seen in the mental health space in 20 years.”
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]]>The post High costs, low inventory appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>“I had 57 tours,” he said. “It was a challenge and so we ended up doing, my assistant and I, two open houses, one on one Sunday, one on the next. My prior record for sales for anything like that was 36.”
The property sold, subject to contract. Many offers came in “way, way lower” than the asking price, even from those approved for mortgages of $900,000-plus. Mr Rego said prospective buyers putting in low bids were unlikely to be successful in the current buoyant climate.
“They say the best time to buy real estate is yesterday, because long ago maybe it would have been worth a figure in the $700,000s but the market, just like the stock market or anything else, it goes up and down and it’s supply and demand.”
Mr Rego said the interest in the Devonshire property was indicative of the state of the island’s residential housing market, with its serious lack of inventory — particularly in the affordable and mid-priced brackets — and ready supply of buyers and renters.
“It’s been interesting because we’ve actually had, even with less listings, more transactions [in 2025],” he explained. He doesn’t necessarily expect that to change in 2026.
“Definitely, over the last few years and to this very day, when we are listing great properties at certain price points, in certain locations, they are going to absolutely fly off the shelf,” he said.
Mr Rego, agency manager at Rego Sotheby’s International Realty, predicted that land for residential development would be harder to come by, with most lots at Riddell’s Bay in Warwick, the Pampas Estate in Smith’s and White Crest Hill in Hamilton Parish having been snapped up.
“There’s going to be a significant reduction in the amount of land sales going forward, almost indefinitely,” he said.
“We’re going to go back to seeing hardly any land sell because there’s not much [in] 21 square miles. There are hardly any further opportunities unless people carve off a section of their own property.”
Mr Rego suggested there was little incentive for developers to build affordable housing here because of the “significant rise in construction costs, materials and labour”.
He said of those building new properties: “Why would they rent it or sell it for a low cost when they’re not going to be able to recoup their own build costs?
“That’s something that needs to be figured out with the Government, for different incentives [for developers].
“There’s a lot of derelict properties … on the island, so maybe there’s other opportunities for Government or charity; maybe public and private sectors can do something.”
Alex DeCouto, co-chairman of the construction division of the Chamber of Commerce, suggested the Government needed to get inventive to deal with the dearth of affordable housing.
“It is just not possible to develop housing at affordable prices in Bermuda,” he said. “Incomes have not kept up with prices. All the usual incentives — duty relief, land tax, stamp duty, etc — would not even make a dent in it.
“This is why no one is developing homes at all. Even the luxury houses tend to be detached from feasibility — i.e. the cost of land plus construction frequently exceeds resale value. They get built because they can afford it anyway.”
Mr DeCouto, president of construction firm Greymane, added: “The only solution is for Government to play a significant role in housing development.
“They should follow the Singapore model. The Singapore Housing and Development Board build subsidised public housing and over 80 per cent of residents in Singapore live in one of these units.”
Mr DeCouto said timely statistics were hard to access so he focused mostly on high-level information about permitting from the Department of Planning when making predictions for construction for the coming months.
“Planning applications, happening six to 12 months before work starts, are seeing a slight decrease this year, which may be indicative for next year,” he said.
“Building permit applications, happening two to six months before work starts, are tracking slightly above the two-year average, broadly indicating we are relatively busy.”
Mr DeCouto noted that the 2024 employment survey showed only a 4 per cent increase in employment in the industry over 2023.
“For us to get to 2008 levels of employment in the industry there would have to be a 61 per cent increase, to put things in perspective,” he said.
He anticipated that the first half of 2026 “will be as busy as we have been for many years”.
“The two office buildings in town and work at Southampton Princess and Rosewood will be sites that are driving this,” he added. “The second half of 2026 is hard to picture.”
He said a lot was still unknown about certain projects, such as the Fairmont Southampton.
“They have permission for lots more residences but it’s unclear when and at what pace they will build them.
“There is an expectation that Government will be looking to invest proceeds of CIT [corporate income tax] in capital projects. I will be waiting to hear their intentions.”
Mr DeCouto urged the Government to continue to be co-operative in relation to work permits for developers because “our workforce is shrinking” and to invest in the planning department.
“I am seeing that AI is making the work of code compliance and plans review much more efficient and we need to invest in that technology,” he said.
He advised the Government: “Continue to make the island attractive to foreign investment, then stay out of the way!”
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]]>The post The fun factor appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>But it’s clear upon meeting the pair that they are deadly serious about the work their fledgling charity does.
Formed in late 2023 and having gained charitable status last year, Beyond Inclusion aims to ensure those with disabilities and mental health issues can participate in all the best bits of life — things like cinema trips, beach outings, restaurant meals and holiday events.
In other words, the activities most people take for granted but that are often inaccessible to those with support needs.
Ms Lawrence explained why the pair launched the organisation after both returned to live on the island.
“I have a background being a teacher and working with individuals with support needs in the UK and Brianna has a background within mental health, based in the US, so we were very passionate about those two areas,” she said.
“We were just talking about the gaps that we saw [in Bermuda] and we noticed gaps within recreational and social opportunities.
“We saw a lot of academic supports and therapeutic supports but not really that fun factor that really pushes your quality of life to be better.”
Beyond Inclusion was created to fill the void and its founders, who both have full-time government jobs and run the charity in their spare time, have spent the past two years building an itinerary of regular events.
That includes an annual Hallowe’en Trunk or Treat, a spring fling at Easter and a ‘Tis the Season get-together, which includes a meet-and-greet with Santa.
Many participants are youngsters but all Beyond Inclusion activities have elements to appeal to adults.
“We don’t want to infantilise anybody,” said Ms Lawrence.
Ms Ball-Roach added: “We’re just here to meet the social and recreational engagement needs of all individuals of all ages with support needs.”
Playing catch-up
The pair’s contention that social interaction improves quality of life is backed up by the World Health Organisation which, as Ms Ball-Roach explained, recognises “social isolation as an epidemic, as a health issue that leads to decreased life expectancies”.
She added: “We already know studies show that people with support needs have decreased life expectancies in general.
“So … if we can help to bridge the gap, if we can help to increase someone’s quality of life … that’s exactly what we’re there to do.”
Both women nod vigorously at the suggestion that Bermuda is somewhat “behind the times” in relation to accessibility.
They describe public transport as “completely inaccessible” due to a lack of ramps and the design of most bus stops.
Shops are a problem too. Ms Lawrence said: “The amount of stores you go to and they have a tiny lip off the sidewalk to get in the doorway and then that means that we can’t use it, because if you’re in an electric chair, you can’t tilt the chair, and most of our participants are in an electric chair.”
Ms Ball-Roach described one of the organisation’s “biggest struggles” as coming up with new activities, precisely because of such challenges.
“At least twice a month, we have some form of outing in the community where we go out to movies, we’ve done pizza making, we’ve done a bunch of boxing matches … just anything that everybody else goes to,” she said.
“Our criteria though is that wherever we go has to be accessible. That is both a challenge that we hold ourselves to, but also kind of a challenge to the community, because there are a lot of things that we would like to be able to do, but because some of our participants cannot access them, then we’re not going to go.”
Physical barriers are not the only problem. A Human Rights Commission study earlier this year found that societal prejudice had a detrimental effect on inclusion.
“People with disabilities reported being met with punitive, dismissive and discriminatory treatment and attitudes when attempting to navigate life in Bermuda,” the HRC report said.
Ms Ball-Roach said: “That report is quite long but it is quite telling. It’s quite detailed and it just shows you how much work there is to be done.”
You can make an impact
Ms Lawrence said Beyond Inclusion embraced the tagline used by the HRC in relation to those with disabilities and support needs: “Nothing about us without us.”
She explained: “We’re very lucky that 50 per cent of our board are individuals with lived experiences of having support needs or being a carer for somebody with support needs.”
With that in mind, the charity’s board responded collectively to questions for this article, noting that those with disabilities — visible and non-visible — are at greater risk of social isolation, as are their carers.
“We recognise that staying connected can be difficult due to the lack of inclusive and accessible options and more work must be done to remove these barriers,” the board said in a statement.
It explained that there are many ways the able-bodied can help bring about change, such as employers working with those with support needs during the hiring process to make “reasonable accommodations” or architects and planners addressing lack of access.
The board urged those with support needs to “stay involved in community groups, clubs or programmes that match your interests, such as Beyond Inclusion or other local disability-related organisations. Or consider joining online groups.”
Ms Ball-Roach said the island had more than 3,000 people with disabilities “and that’s just the ones that Bermuda has been able to collect information on”.
She added: “I think that just goes to show that we have at least 3,000 opportunities to impact someone positively, right?”
Social isolation for those with support needs, she said, was an issue the whole country should be thinking about.
“We want to drive home the fact that it shouldn’t be that it has to happen to you or someone that you care about for it to be something that you care about.
“This is, at a very basic level, a human rights issue.”
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]]>The post Fundraising heroes appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>There’s another data set that’s just as striking, yet far more uplifting.
It’s a breakdown from Bermuda Health and Cancer Centre of the support it received from the community in 2024, amounting to 467 volunteer hours donated and $1.7 million raised.
Those efforts enabled 2,084 individuals to benefit from the charity’s Equal Access Fund, which removes financial barriers for patients.
Deborah Titterton Narraway, the centre’s chief marketing officer, said: “Every year, Bermudians show up as teams, workplaces, families and friends and turn generosity into care.
“In 2024, community giving helped to power Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre’s mission so that no one delays screening, diagnosis or treatment because of cost.”
Addressing the community, she added: “Simply put: your giving creates our impact.”
Ms Titterton Narraway explained that in 2024 the centre subsidised $1.8 million worth of clinical services for those 2,084 patients, some of whom had no insurance and some whose health insurance did not cover the full cost of care.
“Even when an insurer indicates 100 per cent coverage, this usually refers to 100 per cent of their capped allowance, which may only cover a portion of the actual service cost,” she said.
“The centre bridges that gap so patients can focus on their wellbeing rather than worrying about how to pay.”
Although it was a great year for fundraising, there was a shortfall between what was raised and what needed subsidising.
“We have never had a year when we’ve raised enough money to cover everybody’s equal access,” she added. “We do it by managing our cashflow month to month.”
Showing up to support
The centre raises funds in many ways but best-known are the annual events that have become a staple of the island’s calendar.
One such is the 18-hour Relay for Life, presented by Liberty Mutual Bermuda, with its poignant luminaria, representing those affected by cancer, lighting up the track.
The May 2024 event raised $739,738 and included 107 teams, 2,376 participants and 2,503 general admissions.
With 100 per cent of the event costs covered by sponsors, every team dollar could be used to support care via the Equal Access Fund.
Other highlights last year were the BF&M Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, which raised $170,237; AXA XL Man on the Run 5K, which raised $39,244, with a record 423 males taking part; and MOvember Bermuda, which raised $74,389 for men’s health.
A very tangible outcome of the 2024 fundraising done is a new mammography unit which has replaced the centre’s ageing machine.
“It has now been purchased, installed and is up and running,” said Ms Titterton Narraway. “We don’t waste time on putting the money to good use.”
She said some of last year’s donations went towards “unrestricted support” giving the centre “flexibility to upgrade equipment, invest in technology and build staff capability where it’s needed most”.
Just as important is cancer prevention education which, she added, “delivers evidence based programmes to thousands in our community in schools, workplaces and the community to lower risk and catch cancer earlier”.
The centre was able to reach 3,056 people through cancer prevention programmes in 2024, with another 7,000-plus able to view cancer prevention messaging at its events.
Beyond the large-scale events, people gave in other lasting ways, such as by paying for a commemorative tile in the centre’s entryway.
Dates for your diary
Fundraising continues apace in 2025, with this year’s Relay for Life having raised $786,756 to date.
October 15 will see the 29th annual BF&M Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, while MOvember Bermuda will be on November 1 and the AXA XL Man on the Run 5K on November 9.
Ms Titterton Narraway said donor support in the coming years would “directly fuel expanded patient services, including cancer navigation, investment in new medical equipment, renovations to existing facilities to accommodate changes and the Equal Access Fund”.
She urged the community: “Form a team. Sponsor an event. Add a tile. Make a gift. Rally your colleagues. Every action, large or small, helps a neighbour get timely screening, accurate diagnosis and world-class treatment close to home.”
Helping out Pals
Another charity helping those affected by cancer had what its executive director called a “record-breaking year” in 2024-25 “thanks to the incredible generosity of the Bermuda community”.
Colleen English DeGrilla, of Pals Cancer Care in Bermuda, said: “Our annual raffle reached new heights, selling 7,583 tickets, the most ever.
“This year, with 54 prizes on offer, our goal is to sell 9,000 tickets, every one helping to support cancer patients and their families.”
She said the Pals Annual Walk in February was “our most successful to date, with over 1,373 participants joining to celebrate survivors, honour those living with cancer and remember loved ones lost.
“To top it off, the event was named Best Charity Event in the Best of Bermuda Awards.”
Ms English DeGrilla added: “The Pals thrift shop continues to flourish and is already raising vital funds for our work and was proudly awarded Best Thrift Shop.
“March saw the debut of our Pals Electric Raffle, another tremendous success.”
Ms English DeGrilla said the charity was “always moved by individuals who run, bike or swim in memory of loved ones to raise money for Pals. Every effort, big or small, helps to sustain our services. That support is vital.”
Pals relies on fundraising to cover its daily operations, from its physician, six nurses and social worker to its small, dedicated staff.
It also funds courses like the Integrative Oncology Programme, which teaches a holistic approach to cancer care, focusing on nutrition, movement, emotional wellbeing and spiritual health.
Ms English DeGrilla said: “None of this would be possible without the generosity of local businesses, our tireless volunteers and the groundswell of community support.”
The charity hopes the community will continue to support the work of Pals by buying a raffle ticket, joining the next annual walk, shopping at the thrift shop or volunteering.
“Every contribution makes a lasting impact,” she said. “Together, we can continue to support cancer patients and their families when they need it most.”
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