Finding Our Voices is bringing survivor voices to seven public libraries across Maine to boldly break the silence through October’s Domestic Abuse Awareness Month.
The public libraries of Millinocket, Northeast Harbor, Bar Harbor, Camden, Damariscotta, Kennebunk, and York are partnering with the grassroots nonprofit for the two-month Finding Our Voices “Let’s Talk About It” tour, running from Sept. 27 to Nov. 28.
Each of these stops will feature a different panel of four to seven Maine survivors sharing their experiences of being abused in the name of love as well as the impact this had on their children. Audience members will be invited to pose questions and provide their own thoughts.
The 20 survivor participants include Rebekah Lowell who is the illustrator of the 2023 Common Ground Fair poster; 83-year-old Mary Lou Smith from Scarborough who endured four decades of abuse by her University of Southern Maine professor husband; and a young teacher who attributes attending a Finding Our Voices library event a year ago to getting out of her own nightmare of emotional abuse.
Facilitator of the discussions will be Patrisha McLean, the president of Finding Our Voices.
The two-hour library program includes short films and a reception with refreshments and is free and open to the public.
Tour dates are Sept. 27 at Northeast Harbor Library, Oct. 4 at Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, Oct. 11 at Millinocket Memorial Library, Oct. 17 at York Public Library, Oct. 18 at Kennebunk Free Library, Nov. 7 at Skidompha Public Library in Damariscotta, and Nov. 28 at the Camden Public Library.
Finding Our Voices provides innovative public awareness campaigns to destigmatize domestic abuse for victims, as well as peer-to-peer support to mitigate the isolation and financial abuse that are key factors in keeping women trapped in danger at home. Its hand-up to sister survivors include financial assistance, the pro bono dental program Finding Our Smiles, healing retreats for mothers and children, and online support groups including one for women who are estranged from their adult children due to manipulation by the ex.
McLean said the point of this library tour “is to reframe domestic abuse so all understand how complicated, insidious, and pervasive it is.”
“We are here,” she said, “as Mainers who have managed to cross over to the bright side of safety and freedom, to tell everyone that it does happen to independent, smart, and accomplished people; that emotional abuse is abuse; that it is not our shame, and that there is a way out.”
McLean said that public libraries are perfect venues for this talking tour because of their role as the town’s community gathering place.
Through October, participating libraries as well as businesses from the library communities are exhibiting the Finding Our Voices posters that feature McLean’s photo portraits of 45 Maine survivors, paired with the survivors’ customized Power and Control Wheel. This wheel outlines the universal tactics that abusers use to get and maintain control of intimate partners they purport to love.
For more information, go to findingourvoices.net.
