The island’s “public health emergency” witnessed in substance abuse disorder has to be confronted in tandem with the associated “rising tide of violence, homelessness and mental health challenges”, the head of a leading addiction recovery group has declared.

Leslie Grant spoke ahead of Focus Counselling’s annual tag day on Friday, saying many of an estimated more than 5,000 people in Bermuda reckoning with substance abuse disorder remained “invisible until tragedy strikes, through overdose, eviction, arrest or family breakdown”.

He added: “Substance use isn’t just about drugs or alcohol. It’s about untreated trauma, broken systems and lives being lost to silence and stigma.

“We have to treat it as a health crisis, not a criminal one.”

Focus, based in St George’s, cited figures provided by the charity Home Bermuda that showed the island’s homeless population surging from 138 confirmed in 2016 to more than 650 in 2022 — now projected to be near 2 per cent of the population.

Many of those affected also reported recent substance use, untreated mental illness or a history of domestic trauma.

Mr Grant said that the Department of National Drug Control found in a 2015 survey of unsheltered people that more than 60 per cent had used cannabis, cocaine or crack in the previous 30 days, yet more than three quarters had never received treatment.

He added that Bermuda was witnessing “the intersections of substance use with homelessness, violence, youth trauma and mental illness, but we’re still treating them like separate problems”.

“We need a co-ordinated, compassionate response rooted in public health, not punishment.”

The Focus tag day will run from 9am to 6pm on Friday outside Butterfield Bank and HSBC on Front Street in Hamilton along with Lindo’s supermarkets in Warwick and Devonshire.

Donations support services including recovery housing, outpatient counselling, vocational training and crisis intervention.

Mr Grant said: “We’re asking the community to show up not just with donations, but with empathy — this isn’t about charity. It’s about building a stronger, healthier Bermuda for all of us.”

Volunteers can sign up by finding the charity on the site signupgenius.com. Donors can support Focus through its website.

Mr Grant said data had indicated that every dollar invested in addiction treatment equated to as much as $11 in healthcare, shelter and criminal justice costs.

He called on the island to move beyond reactive measures such as emergency services and incarceration in favour of investing in prevention, long-term care and reintegration.

Mr Grant highlighted the organisation’s “Root & Rise: A Healing Earth Project”, which integrates horticultural training, environmental stewardship and job training with addiction treatment.

He said: “People in recovery don’t need pity. They need purpose, belonging and a path forward.”

He added: “Every time we call addiction a crime, we’re sentencing people to silence, but recovery is possible, and it’s happening right here every day.

“Tag day is one small act of compassion that can create real change.

“It’s a chance for Bermuda to stand together and say we see you, we support you and we believe in recovery.”