Bermudians have to rise above the toxic legacy of the country’s past, a leading social worker has warned.

Martha Dismont, the executive director of Family Centre, said: “We’re in an atmosphere of angry rhetoric because of what’s happened in the past.

“How do we correct it? Are we going to be able to shake hands with each other and feel that we can work it out?”

Ms Dismont, who helped found Family Centre in 1990, was speaking as she prepared to step down next June to allow Sandy DeSilva, the charity’s director of services, to take the helm at the organisation.

She singled out “unaddressed trauma” as the island’s top problem — and said Bermuda needed a “healthier community” to tackle its troubles.

She said: “No one should dismiss the fact that the elephant in the room is the way Bermudians feel they have been treated over the years. That legacy is in the way.”

Family Centre grew out of a tutoring service that Ms Dismont helped found, where she noticed “behaviours that were more than academic problems” surfacing in children.

Ms Dismont said: “Some children were without fathers, going without meals. We saw some substance abuse.

“Some had single parents or their parents were divorced. Children act out when the home environment changes. But there was a lot of absenteeism from fathers.”

The service, at first called the Learning Centre, changed in 1995 when Ms Dismont met fellow counsellor Peter Carey and the charity changed focus to tackle broader family problems.

Ms Dismont said the global economic collapse of 2008 exposed the island’s problems.

She added: “Peter and I could see what was coming. When I first came, there was maybe one TV station on the island and no cable. People didn’t have mobile phones. People had more money. Jobs were plentiful, which is why we had so many expatriate workers, but Bermudians were not so displaced like they feel today.”

She said: “The recession hit in 2008. The job market changed, the cost of living went up — and while the existence of international business was great on one hand, supplying taxes and revenues, it pushed up costs like rent. All of a sudden, we were in a different environment.

“People had renovated homes at high cost to take advantage of rents, but jobs weren’t as plentiful, hospitality services took a dive. The education system struggled. Conditions were ripe for families to be in trouble.”

Ms Dismont added: “As Bob Richards used to say, when the tide goes out, you can see who’s swimming naked.”

She said Bermudians should look for shared values.

Ms Dismont added: “For example, a country’s constitution has a preamble that identifies who you are and what you believe. Bermuda’s Constitution Order has no preamble. There’s a problem with ‘Who are you?’ What does it take?

“First, you have to know who you are and be confident about who you are.

“I don’t think we have demonstrated that we care enough for the person that’s been through problems. It’s every man for himself.

“There needs to be a way in which, as a country, we learn to take care of our most vulnerable and not look down on them.

“If we can develop our own moral compass about who we are, and agree what’s important and healthy, and develop core values together as a country on what we believe — then, when things come up, we can bounce back, even if we just get 85 per cent of the population that agrees on those values.”

Ms Dismont said the island’s social service agencies still lacked a unified “continuum of care” to deal with “dysfunction and unaddressed trauma”.

She added: “People always say we are small — we should be able to do this.

“But if you have 100 different ways of doing things, poor acceptable norms and an oppressive regime still in place of unaddressed trauma — if you don’t have access to the best practice standards on delivery of services — it doesn’t matter. You will never get it done.”

She said Family Centre had benefited from “extraordinary people”, including non-Bermudians, who had pitched in to help.

Ms Dismont added: “We have had donations and contributions that people would be shocked at, with no tax write-offs, but they’re willing to help Bermuda.

“As much as there’s this legacy, these institutional structures that have been barriers to progress in Bermuda, regardless of the fact it’s still there, it needs to be cleaned up.

“We have to thank people who have come here. We have to acknowledge that. On top of that, we have to acknowledge the amazing capabilities of Bermudians — some of the smartest people in the world.”

Ms Dismont said she was “not going very far”.

She added: “I will gently provide support. I have been asked to sit on the advisory council to provide support where necessary.

“I won’t be sitting on a beach acting as if the world doesn’t need help. I will stay in the fight.”

Ms Dismont, originally from New York, came to the island when she married Bermudian Roy Dismont Jr in 1986.

She remained in Bermuda as a counsellor and social worker after her husband died in 1989.