Finding Our Voices

06/07/2026

Visiting the Yellow Exhibit in its last day at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam was another reinforcement of yellow as the perfect color for our nonprofit that empowers women domestic abuse survivors to cross over to the bright side of safety and freedom.

It was a thrill to see yellow in so many ways all around Amsterdam. And it will be thrilling to see yellow in so many ways in Maine when our fourth annual Into the Light Yellow Festival fundraiser launches on July 1. For the entire month of July, a record number of participating businesses --now at 130 -- in Midcoast Maine and also the Blue Hill Peninsula are promoting a yellow menu or store item, and donating all or part of the proceeds to our nonprofit.

This from the Van Gogh Museum exhibit: "Various artists thought that color could also have a meaning in itself, separate from reality. It became an important means by which to communicate thoughts, emotions, and ideas.

"Yellow was associated with spring and Easter, divine light and new life."

Bring on the yellow, and save your dining and shopping dollars to spend on it in Maine in July!

06/06/2026

Our Healing Together Retreats are women survivors gathering in person to learn and hone skills, have meaningful conversations, hike or swim together, and bond. Once feeling so alone, and now with others who get it.

Saturday July 11 on a gorgeous oceanside estate in Hancock County is our first retreat of 2026. If you are a woman domestic abuse survivor in Maine YOU can join us, by filling out this form: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/Dhry0nSpWAvvRSXJSCKKkg

1) Learn about setting boundaries, protecting yourself, knowing your worth, with Lisa Nakamura, founding coach of SETpoint .

2) Make yellow crafts with Liz Cutler, artist-founder of ArtWaves MDI

3) Yoga for You stretching and breathing exercises plus nature journaling, with Yael Calhoun.

All instructors are donating their time, as is the owner of the Brooksville estate, allowing us to provide this 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. retreat for $25. Hope to connect with you there!

06/04/2026

No one is more devoted to Finding Our Voices and does more to bring light to domestic abuse and our sister-survivors than Christine Buckley.

Happy happy birthday Christine --every day you make women safer, and my life a lot more fun!

06/04/2026

What a remarkable person and artist Jessica DeFrenn is, transforming the personal darkness of growing up in domestic violence to healing for others, with art.
Finding Our Voices is honored that Jessica is donating proceeds from her fabulous sea-based greeting cards at Sacred Seahorse Studios to Finding Our Voices, along with NextStep Domestic Violence Project.
Thank you Jessica, and I hope to get over to Swan's Island this summer to see glorious you and your glorious artwork in person!

SWAN’S ISLAND — This summer, local artist Jessica DeFrenn is selling hand-printed greeting cards for a good cause. From June through August, she is donating one dollar from every card

05/27/2026

https://www.wabi.tv/2026/05/26/trial-begins-bangor-man-accused-killing-ex-girlfriend-then-leading-police-chase/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSC__RleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFnZmg2YkwxZ3pNZHNoc090c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvXdIY4vSlmnFjdZ5WfKv_OTUnYrsqtuRDWgJf8IuXOU49rdWFgXxX2Ey6OB_aem_6SOehCQYO_lZ4xnc_Lu92g

Richard Thorpe is finally standing trial on charges of strangling 39-year-old Virginia Cookson to death.

Maine's "Community Confinement Monitoring Program" needs to be on trial too, because this program gifted Thorpe with an early release from prison where he was serving (not enough) time for strangling his former wife Darcia. He got his early release in February 2024. He met Virginia in April. By September she was dead.

Finding Our Voices worked with my legislator Vicki Doudera on TWO bills to restrict violent domestic abusers from being eligible for early release from this program (jail and prison both, and just as sexual abusers are already exempt). They both went nowhere, with a legislator serving on the judicial committee-- Nina Milliken D-Blue Hill -- simultaneously working on a bill to EXPAND this program.

The loss of Virginia, for her daughter and other family members, friends, co-workers, and the world, is an epic tragedy. The freedom of violent domestic abusers continually getting priority over the lives of women and safety of the general public is an outrage!

Here is my podcast episode with Darcia, the woman Thorpe was in prison for strangling and released early from prison with NO NOTICE to her! https://www.buzzsprout.com/2307633/episodes/16751571

Photos are from the Finding Our Voices October 1 2024 protest in Bangor over the outrageous coddling of violent domestic abusers that (allegedly) led to Virginia's death.

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05/20/2026

Any chance you get to talk with Barbara Cray or Natasha Irving in the run up to the election as they are both running for DA in Knox, Waldo, Lincoln, and Sagadohoc-- please ask about their policies/plans around violent domestic abusers as far as finally holding these most dangerous members of our community accountable. No more puffball plea deals and no more "dismissed, dismissed, dismissed".

05/19/2026

We are thrilled to announce Dance Into the Light - a music festival fundraiser for Finding Our Voices, presented in partnership with Midcoast Music Academy and Glendarragh Farm Lavender. This celebration of the freedom of dancing in joyful community will happen on Saturday, August 1st at Glendarragh's gorgeous lavender farm in Appleton.

Midcoast bands The Right Track and The Sugar Snaps Band will set the vibe with irresistible dance music - with a very special opener by siblings Jackie and Wyatt McLean, the adult children of Finding Our Voices CEO+Founder Patrisha McLean, performing publicly together for the first time. Food for purchase will be lovingly made from scratch by new food truck Joshua & Dakota's Cantina.

🎟 Get your EARLY BIRD TIX now! 🎟

$30 early bird/$35 after June 1/$40 at the gate. For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.findingourvoices.net/dance-into-the-light

Event poster artwork created for Finding Our Voices by Christina DeHoff Fine Art. The amazing painting, donated by the artist, will be auctioned off to raise additional funds for Finding Our Voices' vital work.

05/17/2026

From the Netflix docuseries Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.
Paul Murdaugh was Morgan's high school boyfriend.
He is suspected of reckless homicide in the drowning death of one of Morgan's best friends when they were teenagers.
Morgan was about 17 when Paul strangled her.
The she describes their relationship here is what is happening with teens all over Maine, and we talk about that in the Finding our Voices Healthy Relationship residencies in Maine middle schools and high schools.
I'd like to put together these photos as a series to show to the students as a discussion prompt when we resume our school tour in the fall.

05/17/2026

In rewatching the Netflix docseries on the Murdaughs-- the father convicted of killing his wife and son Paul, and Paul suspected of reckless homicide-- the all-too-common dating dynamic Miley describes here between her best friend Morgan and Paul is exactly what we are shining a light on in our one- and two-day Healthy Relationship residencies in Maine middle and high schools. Empowering teens to be able to identify domestic abuse, and know how to best help a friend going through it-- i.e. do not get impatient or angry with them when they "go back".

05/15/2026

https://www.penbaypilot.com/article/finding-our-voices-dental-program-wins-governors-award-service-and-volunteerism/270096

Finding Our Voices won the 2026 Governor's Award for Service and Volunteerism for our program of donated dental care to women domestic abuse survivors, and it was a thrill to pick up the award last Saturday in Augusta on behalf of our 40 Maine star-volunteers.

The annual awards program is managed on behalf of the Office of the Governor by Volunteer Maine: "Through the dedication and compassion of its volunteer providers, Finding Our Smiles demonstrates how specialized volunteer service can restore not only oral health, but dignity, confidence, and a renewed sense of possibility."

Governor Janet T. Mills is on the Finding Our Voices posters as a survivor herself of domestic abuse, and it made us proud to hear her describe a sister-survivor's Finding Our Smiles treatment as "a phenomenal blessing, signifying validation, worthiness, closure, and hope."

Thank you Lauren Rice of Dental Hygiene Studio in Rockland and Mandy Fitzsimmons of Town Hill Dentistry in Bar Harbor for joining me and Mary Kamradt, thank you VolunteerMaine for the award, and to the dental volunteers in Finding Our Smiles-- you are heroes every one.