An advocate for women and girls urged attendees representing a broad cross-section of the community at a gala event to confront the visible and hidden layers of domestic abuse.

McKenzie-Kohl Tuckett, the featured speaker at the Women’s Resource Centre’s second annual Purple Thursday gala, also said domestic abuse was not a private issue but a “community problem rooted in unhealed trauma, patriarchy, silence and systemic failure”.

Ms Tuckett presented a road map for moving from awareness to action, and called for a justice system that protects rather than delays.

She highlighted the need for consistent enforcement of protection orders, trauma-informed and accountable policing prevention through education and cultural change and national structures that co-ordinate efforts and measure real progress.

A recent University of Bristol Law graduate and 2025 Lincoln’s Inn Scholar, Ms Tuckett tied the systemic challenges to the broader social issues facing Bermuda.

She told the gathering: “Silence doesn’t only claim today’s victims. It shapes tomorrow’s offenders.”

The WRC said the Centre Against Abuse reports that children who grow up in abusive homes are 37 per cent more likely to join gangs, 50 per cent more likely to abuse drugs and 74 per cent more likely to commit violent crime.

“These are not just statistics,” Ms. Tuckett emphasised.

She added: “They are mirrors showing us what happens when trauma goes unhealed, when pain becomes inheritance. Secondary victims breed secondary consequences.

“Those consequences touch every corner of our community, from the classroom to the courtroom, from the playground to the prison.

“This is the true implication of domestic abuse: that every time we fail to intervene, we risk raising another generation whose pain spills into every corner of our society, much like what we are experiencing at present.”

Ms Tuckett also addressed the common refrain “men are victims too” with a reframing of her own.

She said: “Acknowledging the disproportionate violence faced by women does not erase male victims, and fighting for women’s safety does not exclude men.

“It’s the same fight. To those who say, ‘Men are victims too’, I say this: then join us.”

The WRC said between April 2024 and March 2025, 63 women sought support from the organisation, specifically for domestic abuse-related issues.

It said the victims were afraid, overwhelmed, uncertain and searching for safety.

The women were offered case management and referral support, professional counselling and access to hardship assistance to help meet their basic needs and begin rebuilding their lives.

Juanae Crockwell, the WRC’s executive director, told attendees that real lives were behind the statistics.

“At WRC, we believe that when women are supported, they can build, or rebuild, lives of safety, self-sufficiency and joy,” Ms Crockwell said.

“But we cannot do this work alone. Domestic abuse is not a private issue; it is a community issue. And if it affects all of us, then all of us must be part of the solution.”

The event featured legislators and government officials to advocates, corporate partners, law enforcement and community leaders.

They included Tinée Furbert, the Minister of Youth, Social Development and Seniors, with Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, government senator Lindsay Simmons and Opposition MP Robin Tucker.

Jalyn Jodi Zuill, the Bermuda Police Service domestic abuse liaison officer; Kayla Simmons, a government domestic abuse social worker who works also with the Centre Against Abuse; and Keisha Tuckett, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, also attended.

The WRC said it was “intentional” in bringing the leaders into the room to recognise that advancing the protection of survivors and reforming systems requires true partnership between those with lived experience, those providing support and those with the power to enact change.

The organisation launched a new initiative — the WRC Circle of Support which will ensure that every woman continues to have access to its life-changing services.

The community-driven movement is designed to create consistent and sustainable funding for the WRC’s essential services.

The charity said the goal is to engage 1,000 women to commit to $30 per month or $360 annually, creating a reliable income stream that ensures no woman is turned away from support.

“The Circle of Support is not just about donations — it is about solidarity,” Ms Crockwell said.

“It is women standing with women. It is our community choosing action over awareness. It is how we make support a promise, not a privilege.”