And he advised other social workers to recognise when it was time for them "to get out''.

The Shadow Social Services Minister was speaking at the first annual Bermuda Clinical Social Work Council (BCSWC) conference at the Princess Hotel.

Guest speaker Dr. Jannah Hurn urged Bermuda's over-burdened social workers during the two-day conference to fight for more resources and law changes to make their jobs easier.

"Social services is a struggle to be in, you can't do it forever. As professionals, we carry the burden as well,'' said Mr. Bascome, who worked for years in the Social Services Department before going to work for Benedict Associates.

As a counsellor in the private sector, Mr. Bascome said he dealt with mostly marital and family problems.

He received an "overwhelming number of referrals'' often involving children and drug use.

"You would be alarmed at the number of children in schools today who are right now addicted to marijuana -- not alcohol, because they don't like to see themselves inebriated.'' he said. "They find marijuana is an easier high to control.'' The youngsters were cleverly hiding their habits by toting Visine, he noted.

"You can't detect it on them unless you are very close and you can smell the (marijuana) smoke on them,'', he said.

Dr. Hurn, Dean of the Social Work School at Florida State University, said Bermuda did not appear to be doing enough to address its high number of divorces and single parents.

One suggestion that appeared to gain the support of the roughly 100 people in social work attending the forum was her town's mandatory divorce counselling programme which she pioneered.

"In my county, if you file for divorce and have children you are required by law to take a two-day training workshop on how to deal with children in a divorce situation,'' she said. "And you must come out of the session with a contract signed by both parties or the judge will not sign the divorce papers.'' Summing up the first "Families in Crisis'' workshop, she told social workers, "You need more resources -- more school home counsellors, more family intervention and treatment programmes, more reasonably priced day care, more programmes to give children male role models...

Health and Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness conceded in an opening address to the BCSWC that there was "an increasing number of vulnerable families, including single parent families headed by poor women.'' More "family sensitive policies'' were needed, he agreed.

Dr. Hurn said she firmly believed the family was the strength of a country.

She strongly supported two adults in a family with children.

But she believed families could also function well if one of the adults was outside the family and still supporting the children.

Dr. Hurn noted that single parent families have been found to suffer much more financial stress and depression.

However, "The facts are, children in single parent families can be as healthy and functional as others...

"The responsibility is on us as helping professionals and citizens to advocate kids programmes and services that will allow single parents to support their children whether they are together or not,'' she said.

She noted that male children suffered the most from divorce, hence the high juvenile delinquency and crime rates of today.

Dr. Hurn urged more involvement of the father in a family -- by giving him more responsibility, for example.

Another speaker, West End school home counsellor Ms Marilyn Smith pointed out she had to deal with being the only counsellor for around 300 children in the public school system.

"Obviously one counsellor per three schools is just not adequate,'' she said.

"The community has to put pressure in the right places to see it expanded.'' The BCSWC, headed by Ms Sharol Simmons, was formed two years ago to regulate the growing number of clinical social workers.

It also aims to promote social research in Bermuda to better address social ills.

And it seeks to promote professional development in the field. A first step in that direction was the setting up of a national certificate exam at Bermuda College starting in June 1994.