The Mirrors programme is widely viewed as the signature achievement of former Premier Ewart Brown.He fought for years to bring the personal development programme to Bermuda, and was able to implement it only upon taking office as Premier in 2006.In conjunction with this newspaper’s New Beginnings $1 Million Campaign — aimed at raising $500,000 to reinstate Mirrors’ community programme for 19- to 24-year-olds, plus $500,000 to fund education grants for graduates of Mirrors and similar programmes — Dr Brown met with The Royal Gazette.“I support the campaign, not only because it will support my favourite programme, Mirrors, but because we must nurture the young people who will lead Bermuda through the tough days ahead,” he said.Looking back on the initiative described by former Minister of Social Rehabilitation Dale Butler as the cornerstone of his legacy, Dr Brown said Mirrors was of deep personal importance.However, he added: “The word ‘legacy’ bothers me. I always say your legacy is about what others write about you. Not what you think of yourself. I don’t know what my legacy will be. It might not have been written yet.”However, he continued: “For me, Mirrors is a very important experience. I had two sons incarcerated, one still in, one out. That’s sort of kept me grounded. Nobody is immune; no family is immune. I’m not going to fake it.“Incarceration affects a huge percentage of young black men, around the world. I don’t think that as a responsible person, I should attempt even to isolate myself from them — and I can’t.”Recalling his appearance at the first graduation ceremony as an emotional moment even by Mirrors’ standards, he said: “It was a combination of things for me personally, because I think I would have benefited from a programme like Mirrors when I was in the tormented phase of my life, let’s say from age 11 to 13. I could have used some transformation around that time.”Echoing the philosophy behind the programme’s name, Dr Brown said: “I see myself. I look at the young people, and I see myself.”For the former Premier, his “tears of joy” onstage could also be ascribed to relief: it had taken him more than a decade to witness Bermuda’s first Mirrors graduates.“When you see something finally reach fruition, something that you thought maybe two years earlier was not going to happen — I think if you’ve got any humanity at all, you’ve got to feel good about that.”The template for Mirrors lay in the US, with a personal transformation programme known as Uncommon Results. The organisation’s methods had been developed by Mark Charley, a veteran of the foster childcare system, now in the business of training people to overcome personal obstacles. The programme was not specifically for at-risk youth, but had shown promising results with juvenile offenders.For Dr Brown, premonitions of trouble for Bermuda came with the gang violence that scarred the neighbourhood of his Los Angeles medical practice.In the years leading up to the Rodney King riots two decades ago, he suspected similar trends would manifest in the youth of Bermuda.Dr Brown recalled his search starting because “I felt that Bermuda wasn’t going to be all that different to what I was seeing in California. Maybe a few years behind. But all the social stresses and challenges that I was seeing in California, I couldn’t see any reason not to prepare for that in Bermuda”.Crime, especially drug and gang crime, was rising in the city, as were turf clashes between rival gangs the Crips and the Bloods.Noting that “as a doctor, I was trained in the signs and symptoms business”, he added: “I don’t think I was unique in that, because there were people in Bermuda who could also see it, and felt that things were happening with young people that were beginning to cause concern. The handwriting was on the wall; there’s no question.”In Bermuda, a group of sportsmen which included cricket player Rudolph Lawrence and footballer Leroy (Nibs) Lewis, had reached similar conclusions.“Immediately impressed” upon contacting Mr Charley, Dr Brown recalled: “He has an infectious spirit about the potential of people in general, and young people specifically.”After returning to Bermuda, then under a United Bermuda Party Government, Dr Brown met with sportsmen who, he said, “wanted to do something ... They said, Doc, you’ve got to help us help our young people”. Together, they pooled money to bring Mr Charley to the Island for a presentation at the Elbow Beach Hotel.Having invited “everybody on the Bermuda Government protocol list”, from then-Governor Thorold Masefield and then-Premier Pamela Gordon to various Ministers and members of the Opposition, Dr Brown recalled a good turnout that included judges.Mr Charley’s pitch for Uncommon Results, which included a short film, also “evoked a tremendous emotional response”, he said.“The Government of the day promised that they would follow through with it. And it didn’t go anywhere.”It was 1997 — a full decade before Bermuda’s version of the Uncommon Results method would be launched.Asked why Mirrors consistently ended up stonewalled, Dr Brown said: “Most politicians prefer the talking stage. It’s the next phase, the get-it-done phase, that causes problems.”He added: “I don’t think it fit with these beliefs and the convictions of the UBP of that time. I don’t think they had acknowledged or accepted that there were problems on the way. And they weren’t alone. Let me be real clear about this, because when my party became government, I still had to struggle. I still had to fight. It tied in with our whole philosophy of prevention, but to get people to actually move it to programme level was more difficult than I ever imagined. Money was even allocated, and there was still no movement. So I promised myself that if I became Premier, that within the first 30 days, that the programme was going to have to get going. By that time, of course, there were more converts.”Mr Charley, who visited Bermuda repeatedly to pitch Mirrors to successive administrations, has described the wait as the longest in his career.“I’d apologise to him month after month,” Dr Brown said. “I’m sorry, Mark, I thought we would get it done faster. It’s just the way Bermuda is.”Directly upon becoming Premier in 2006, Dr Brown charged Social Rehabilitation Minister Mr Butler with implementing Mirrors. Mr Butler, he said, gave Mirrors “the Government credibility it needed”.He continued: “It’s not a programme merely for offenders, so to speak. Offenders are included, but it’s because they haven’t maximised their potential. But that’s the case for many people. That’s what the personal transformation is about — the underlying belief being that if you can transform your self, then you can transform your country. That was my belief at the beginning, and I still believe it.”Mirrors saw its funding reduced in later years, most sharply in the 2011/12 Budget, when funds for the year dropped 34 percent to $1.7 million.Acknowledging the cut had been “hurtful”, Dr Brown added: “It was understandable, because there were cuts across Government.”In order to help supplement Mirrors, he said he’s taken to naming it as his favourite charity. Mirrors, he said, has piqued the interest of Caribbean jurisdictions.“I will stay involved as they see fit. I could probably be most effective in trying to raise some funds for the programme. I would surely do that.”Useful websites: www.gov.bm, www.uncommonresults.com.