Finding Our Voices

10/20/2026

Thank you Josh Gerritsen if you are elected please do something about local men arrested for strangling their partners being released on $750 bail.
https://www.midcoastvillager.com/news/publicsafety/police-say-man-strangled-woman-during-domestic-assault-in-rockland/article_57880ae8-bf86-4b77-b29c-9945eae1fe06.html

It's Endorsement Tuesday, and I'm so excited to announce my endorsement by Patrisha McLean!

She has done groundbreaking work with her organization Finding Our Voices to provide peer support, community connection, and resources to women survivors of intimate partner abuse across Maine.

Learn more about Finding Our Voices here: https://findingourvoices.net/

10/20/2026

THIS is what I want my next State reps and also Maine governor to work with Finding Our Voices to DO SOMETHING about:
https://www.midcoastvillager.com/news/publicsafety/police-say-man-strangled-woman-during-domestic-assault-in-rockland/article_57880ae8-bf86-4b77-b29c-9945eae1fe06.html

A Thomaston man arrested for STRANGLING a woman....and granted $750 bail.

A prior domestic violence arrest was reported in 2012 with the court response: "Dismissed".

Thank you Stephen Betts and the Midcoast Villager for your reporting.

ROCKLAND — A Thomaston man was arrested Oct. 18 accused of strangling a woman during a domestic assault.

Samuel N. Atwood, 58, of Thomaston, was arrested by Rockland police and charged with felony domestic violence aggravated assault, and a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence criminal threatening.

He was taken to the Knox County holding facility in Rockland and then had an initial appearance Oct. 19 via Zoom with the state court in Knox County where Judge Sarah Gilbert set bail at $750 cash. Assistant District Attorney Mari Wells had requested that amount while defense attorney the day James Gioia had asked for personal recognizance bail.

An affidavit filed with the court by Rockland Police state it responded to a reported domestic dispute on Chestnut Street. The woman said Atwood pushed her down on a bed, put one of his hands around her neck and the other over her mouth and nose. She struck her head on the bottom of the window sill when she was forced down, according to the affidavit.

The woman said while she was struggling to breathe, he told her he was going to kill her.

A witness reported hearing their arguments but this time it was more intense and the witness heard the woman saying "Sam no, Sam don't, and Sam stop." The witness said he also heard a loud thud shortly before police were called to the scene.

Atwood denied the dispute was ever physical.

10/17/2026

Laudan is one of 25 Maine women domestic abuse survivors who have transformed their story into song, and trauma into triumph, through a glorious 5-year partnership between DocSong and Finding Our Voices.

Come celebrate the healing power of music and community in Portland on Thursday when fabulous singers (including Ellie Osborn and Hazel Delehey) will perform Laudan's song Pocket of Peace that is about her young son and co-written and sung here by Clara Scheid and Natalie Demarest, and a dozen other personal and universal survivor anthems including those belonging to Mary Lou Smith, Liz Cutler, Gloria Kunje, Kelly Feltis, Mary Kamradt, Amy Burns, and me!

This is a fundraiser to continue this FOV/DocSong project with tix -- suggested price $25-- available thru the DocSong website or at the door!

🗓️Thursday Oct. 22

⏰6 pm to 8 pm

📍Portland: 34 Preble St.

10/15/2026

How best to help a friend or family member they sense or know is in a dangerous relationship?
Here's advice from Mia, from the perspective of what would have been most helpful to her when she was in her early 20s and in grave danger from the person claiming to love her.
Mia was one of six survivors on the FOV panel discussion that followed the Strand Theatre screening of "Out at Six," Livi Kessel's uber-powerful documentary about the eight stages to domestic violence homicide. Christine Buckley is in the clip with Mia.
Thank you to the Strand, and also Maine Film Center and Portland Museum of Art for partnering with us on this tour, and amplifying survivor voices-- no one knows more about domestic abuse than those who survived it.
Thank you to the Department of Sound&Vision for the clip!

10/14/2026

Couldn't be more excited to share Tailwind Media's highlight video of our sublime "Dance Into the Light" music festival that raised $13,000 and a whole lot of love on a lavender field in Appleton on August 1 2026!

Huge thanks to Lorie Costigan, Jen Feldman, visionary artist Christina DeHoff, Jackie and Wyatt McLean, The Right Track, The Sugar Snaps Band, Christine Buckley, our volunteers, our event sponsors, all who came, danced, donated, and spread light and joy.

And light up the community and night with us again at the second annual TBA Finding Our Voices Music Festival in 2027!

10/13/2026

Last night!
My favorite DV survivor anthem (and what a thrill to hear it live with thousands of other women).
What's yours?

10/10/2026

Thank you to Livi Kessel, director of the amazing doc "Out at Six", our partnering theaters and , my beautiful and brave sister survivors sharing what in the film resonated with them on the panel discussions Jennifer Greensmith, Christine Buckley, Mary Lou Smith, Mia Mantello, Nicole Bernhardt, Sarah Doucette, Laudan Ghayebi, Mary Kamradt, Bethany McInnis plus Miss Teen Maine and FOV youth ambassador , and Liz True sharing how even as the board chair of FOV she was caught off guard by her daughter's entrapment into domestic violence.

Catch the next leg of our Out at Six film/survivor-discussion tour in 2027!

10/09/2026

He was a lot older than me and said we were soulmates.
He made me feel anxious all the time and also (strangely) guilty.
He called me horrible names in rage and casually.
It was so hard to make him happy, and impossible to keep him happy, and I exhausted myself and consumed my waking hours with the effort.
He didn't listen to me or hear me.
I was always unsure of where we stood.
He pierced my joy, always.
He didn't know me or care to know me.

And he called that love, and I called that love.

No no no.

This is love, radiating from the faces of me and Mary Lou: Easy and fun times together. Trust. Celebrating each other's triumphs and having each other's back at the disappointments and setbacks. Listening. Supportive.

Love/not love. Listen to your gut and know the difference and wishing you too a Mary Lou (or other of my kind, compassionate, fun, and cherished friends) in your life! 💛💛💛