Opportunities are in place for young people in Bermuda but anger and deep-rooted resentment are obstacles that must be dealt with before the community can put violence to rest.

This is the view of Eudora Browne Zuill, criminologist and youth counsellor at the Bermuda Youth Counselling Services, who has added her opinion to the chorus of experts who are calling for the community to deal with the underlying issues behind Sunday?s incident at Wellington Oval, rather than continually focusing on the problem itself.

On Wednesday Government announced that the Ministry of Health and Family Services had arranged for counselling to be available for anyone, particularly children, who has experienced trauma in light of Sunday?s violence at Wellington Oval.

Mrs. Browne Zuill recommended a closed forum be set up soon so that youth can be heard without authorities and members of the public present. That form of setting would allow counsellors to get to the point quickly.

?They must be given a voice ? an opportunity to express with an independent body what they see as being important and of concern for them and how others can help to resolve it,? she said.

Mrs. Browne Zuill said the focus of the forum should be to build an atmosphere of rapport and understanding. ?It is human nature to point fingers and express our views as a result of the problematic behaviours displayed by some of our youth. We often do this looking outside, in on another person?s world, rather than first trying to stand in his or her shoes and seeing things through his or her lens. We must take off our rose-coloured lenses and look at how others perceive their world.?

She pointed out that young people who commit such offences tend to experience boredom, are not closely supervised by parents and experience problems in school. Many have not identified a career interest and have no clear goals. Other issues that evolve are the absence of a positive male role model or the lack of structure and follow through within the home.

The chairman of Prison Fellowship Bermuda will be conducting a ten-week lifestyle programme to help young offenders achieve success.

Jack Harris, who is also the president of Creative Consulting will launch the programme with young offenders at the Co-Educational Facility on Tuesday, April 13.

Creative Consulting is a business and personal development company.