A shadow minister and a former premier have highlighted how a collaborative community effort could help to address mental health issues after they attended an “eye-opening” meeting on the subject.

Ben Smith, a One Bermuda Alliance MP, and Sir John Swan, who led the country from 1982 to 1995 at the helm of the United Bermuda Party, were at the talk where findings from a study related to adolescents were shared.

The forum on Tuesday was the third of its kind since last month and was attended by parents, teachers, pupils and politicians, including Tinée Furbert, the Minister of Youth, Social Development and Seniors.

Daniel Cavanagh, a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne and lead researcher of the adolescent mental health study in Bermuda, said that tackling stigma would be the hardest problem for the island’s young people.

He added that offering alternative sources of therapy, better mental health resources and more collaboration between schools and healthcare providers would help over time.

Sir John commended the team behind the research and said that better funding was needed for psychologists and mental healthcare providers.

He said: “The Government has no money — if you knock on that door, you’ll be knocking for a long time.

“We’ve got to partner with the private sector, and if you make this issue a community issue, then the private sector will be on board.”

Sir John added: “We’ve got to look at how will they connect with the community and really bring out the action part of it.

“We’ve got to re-educate Bermuda.”

Mr Smith, the Shadow Minister of National Security and Education, described the forum at Warwick Academy as “extremely eye-opening” for him.

He said it was “shocking” to hear the level of potential anxiety and depression in young people.

Mr Smith added that it helped to explain why many young men who suffered abuse and trauma in their lives sometimes ended up in prison in their adult lives.

He said: “I think what I saw here is that it’s going to take collaboration across the community in order to fix the issues that are happening.”

Mr Cavanagh and Shawnee Basden, a psychologist, conducted a survey during the past academic year across 15 schools that involved 2,716, or about 76 per cent, of secondary school pupils.

Study findings were announced on May 7 and showed that 31 per cent of pupils aged between ten and 19 suffered depressive symptoms.

About 25 per cent of the same age group reported anxiety and 20 per cent reflected a diagnosis of both.

Bermuda’s frequency of youth mental illness was 5 per cent to 6 per cent higher than the global average. Mr Cavanagh clarified on Tuesday that the figure had more than doubled during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said many issues came from the stress placed on young people transitioning between in-person and online learning during the pandemic.

Other factors included low self-esteem from social media, being overwhelmed by technology and bullying.

Symptoms were measured along race, age and gender, Mr Cavanagh said.

He added that girls, Black pupils and minority students were more likely to suffer depression and anxiety.

The researcher said that the most common factor that stopped young people from seeking help was embarrassment, with 62 per cent of those studied saying it was a factor.

Mr Cavanagh chalked this problem up to stigma, which he said stemmed from a misunderstanding of how to manage mental health problems.

He added that stigma against mental health problems had been a roadblock in Bermuda for at least 30 years and was more likely to affect Black children and males.

Mr Cavanagh said: “If you are carrying that stigma where you’re worried about what other people think, when you actually go and have the therapy, it’s not going to be as effective.

“Not only are you dealing with the symptoms of the problem, but you are also trying to deal with trying to fight that stigma, so half of your effort is going into fighting this concern.”

He said that the best way to combat stigma against mental illness was to spread awareness of prevalence, causes and proper coping mechanisms.

Mr Cavanagh added that fighting stigma with proper information would not only tackle prejudices but disrupt misinformation.

Mental health first-aid training also helped to reduce stigma, Mr Cavanagh said, as well as education about warning signs of anxiety and depression and how to confront these conditions.

Mr Cavanagh said that he hoped to put together a Bermuda-centric model to tackle mental illness stigma at the roots and to aim resources at groups that were most vulnerable.

Sandy De Silva, of Family Centre, reminded parents and teachers at the meeting that they did not need to have all the answers if they were approached by a young person with concerns.

She highlighted that it was important to show empathy and understanding before directing the young person to other resources.