ABOUT US

Finding Our Voices is the grassroots nonprofit organization and sisterhood that provides peer support, community connection, and practical and meaningful resources to women survivors of intimate partner abuse across Maine.

We are committed to filling in the gaps for services and also complementing the work of existing resources, including the regional domestic abuse resource resource centers.

We launched as a nonprofit in September of 2021.

Here is what we do

Our programs include Get Out Stay Out funding, donated dental care, an online support group, and Healing Together in-person retreats. The public education/awareness pillar of our nonprofit includes such ground-breaking public awareness programs as a poster campaign featuring the faces and voices of 45 named Maine women survivors, Survivor-Speaks panel discussions, public rallies, and one- and two-day Healthy Relationship residencies in middle and high schools including a young person traveling with us who shares their story of dating abuse with the teen students. 

Our work in schools is for the benefit of teens of all genders. Our service programs are exclusively for Maine women survivors of intimate partner abuse. 

Here is what we don't do

We do not provide legal advice, or find housing or jobs. We do not find or provide shelter and we do not do case management. We cannot put a credit card down for a motel/hotel stay or a U-Haul or car rental (but we can reimburse a partnering social service agency for this). 

We do not operate a hotline, or do crisis intervention. We do not have a publicly available phone number. Survivors can reach us by email. 

We respect survivor autonomy and confidentiality 

Survivors choose how and when they engage with our organization. Personal information is kept confidential and is never shared without explicit permission from the survivor. 

Services are provided without any requirement or expectation of participating in our programs or speaking publicly. Financial assistance is provided with no expectation of publicity.

Emergency funds and material assistance are offered privately and confidentially. There is no requirement to participate in any of our organizational activities in order to access our services. 

We follow trauma-informed, survivor-centered practices 

All interactions prioritize safety, choice, respect, and empowerment. Survivors determine what  support looks like for them. Our support groups, get-togethers and gatherings are survivor-led spaces designed to reduce isolation and foster community, and healing.

We are 100 percent donor funded, neither seeking nor receiving government funding 

Relying on creative community fundraisers, and donations from individuals, businesses and  foundations allows us to be flexible with our support services and provide a quick turnaround for  funding where a quick response is of the essence (e.g., women and moms needing to flee the state,  safeguard their homes, selves, and children, access shelter now).  

Finding Our Voices exists to fill gaps, including those that arise after immediate safety has been addressed and particularly around financial stability, community connection, and long-term healing. We supplement resources provided by regional domestic violence resource centers and other social service agencies. 

Our wide and ever-growing network of trusted referral partners include many of the domestic abuse resource centers; community action programs; hospital caseworkers; Behavioral Health; District Attorney offices; sheriff and police; DHHS and CPS; employers including Goodwill, Homeworthy and Families First homeless resource centers; recovery, sex trafficking, and immigrant/migrant resource groups; and therapists.