GET HELP
It is not your fault
Emotional abuse IS abuse
It will only get worse
You are not alone
A brighter life IS possible
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are survivors, working out of a home office to try and help our sisters have an easier time of it than we did. Unlike the traditional domestic abuse agencies we do not receive state or federal funding and are 100% donor funded.
We cannot help you find housing. We also are not crisis responders. If you have an emergency and need immediate help please call 911, and/or the 24/7 confidential Maine domestic abuse helpline which is 1-866-834-4357.
Here is some of what Finding Our Voices does do! If we can be helpful, please fill out this Sister Support form and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
Get Out Stay Out Fund: This is exclusively for women victims of intimate partner abuse. Mostly through referral we pay for items needed to get safe and stay safe and to rebuild. This includes payments for shelter and car, legal, home and personal security.
Finding Our Smiles: Dentists across Maine are generously donating dental care to Maine women and child domestic abuse victims who do not have the money to pay for needed procedures. This includes both cosmetic and critical care. Candidates must have been out of the abusive situation for at least six months, have reliable transportation and stable housing.
Legal help: We can provide names of lawyers we recommend and are sometimes able to help with legal fees.
Online Support Group: For more than three years, we have been meeting weekly online, Mondays at 6 p.m. in a safe, non-judgmental space to support each other. Recent topics have included isolation, financial abuse, and physical health implications of emotional abuse. The group varies between 10 to 28, with some out of their abusive situations for more than a decade, some just out, and some still in it.
Sister Love: Every day we mail out gift packets to our sisters needing a boost. These include writing journals, books that were helpful to us in our own journeys, and our yellow power bracelets.
You Are Not Alone!
Listening to our stories you are sure to see more clearly the pattern of domestic abuse, that you are not alone, and how another life IS possible for you and your children.
Hundreds of Maine women aged 18 to 85 are publicly sharing their experiences of domestic abuse with Finding Our Voices on panel discussions and on our posters and bookmarks that are in 100 towns.
Click below to hear the voices of some of the survivors on our postes and bookmarks.
There are domestic abuse resource agencies in every county in Maine under the umbrella of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence with trained advocates. Their confidential 24/7 helpline is a good way to help process what you are going through
1-866-834-4357.
Hope & Justice Project – Aroostook County
Next Step Domestic Violence Project – Washington & Hancock Counties
Partners for Peace – Penobscot & Piscataquis Counties
New Hope – Waldo, Knox, Lincoln & Sagadahoc Counties
Family Violence Project – Kennebec & Somerset Counties
Immigrant Resource Center of Maine – Refugee & Immigrant Communities
Safe Voices – Oxford, Franklin & Androscoggin Counties
Through These Doors – Cumberland County
Caring Unlimited – York County
OTHER RESOURCES
Narcissistic Abuse
Narcissistic abuse as relates to parenting and the family court system: One Mom’s Battle (OMB)
Narcissistic relationships: Dr. Ramani
Rebecca Zung "Negotiating with a narcissist" – https://www.rebeccazung.com
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Family Court/Court Reform
WeSpoke: Mobilizing awareness and speaking up on the systemic failures in Family & Matrimonial Courts across America.
Custody Peace and One Mom's Battle have joined forces to build awareness and advocacy for policy change that will positively impact the current Family Court System worldwide
National Family Court Reform non-profit: The Court Said USA.
How family-court practices fail children: Barry Goldstein.
Connecticut Protective Moms is a grass roots nonprofit of Connecticut moms who are dedicated to improving the Connecticut Family Court process to validate all forms of Domestic Violence (DV) including physical, coercive control, emotional, verbal, financial and legal abuse.
Other Maine Resources
Needing/navigating a divorce with an abuser? Here is a wonderful Maine nonprofit, that provides low-cost virtual and in-person divorce workshops. https://togetherinvested.com
Is Religion a factor in your abuse? Caroline McKuen’s nonprofit Presbyterian Advocacy Coalition is working to end domestic violence and clergy abuse in church communities, and is here for you. https://www.presbyterianadvocacycoalition.org
Pro bono legal services for those 60 and older. HelpLine: 1-800-750-5353
Peer Support through Maine Behavioral Health. Warm Line at 1-866-771-9276. Rockland Peer Support Center: (207) 701-4417, in Biddeford at (207) 358-4414 and Sanford (207) 490-5253.
CA$H Maine is a statewide collaboration of ten coalitions, comprised of 50 partners, working together to achieve long-term financial stability.
New Ventures Maine creates an empowering environment for Maine people to define and achieve their career, financial, and small business goals.
Nourish - Nurture - Nest – https://www.nourishnurturenest.comJulie is an Intuitive Lifestyle and Wellness Coach in Maine, providing women with tools and resources to expand their sense of self trust, personal satisfaction and fulfillment.
National Resources
Narcissistic abuse educator and narcissistic relationship recovery coach Claire Auden’s YouTube Channel.
We have heard good things about the Facebook Narcissist Abuse Support Group.
DomesticShelter.orgis a great clearing house for resources as well as articles including these about coercive control and narcissistic abuse:
https://www.domesticshelters.org/articles/identifying-abuse/what-is-coercive-control
https://www.domesticshelters.org/articles/identifying-abuse/a-narcissistic-abuser-will-never-change211.org connects you to expert, confidential help.
Dawn Wilcox tirelessly reveals the true state of femicide in the US, https://womencountusa.org
Women’s Independence Scholarship Program (WISP) enhances efforts to stop the cycle of intimate partner abuse by financial empowerment through access to education. Apply for scholarship assistance here.
General Legal Help
Plain language, easy-to-understand information for victims of abuse: Women’s Law.
The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund: Legal Momentum.
A guide to restraining orders here.
Social Media
If you read only one blog, make it Lundy Bancroft, author of the classic Why Does He Do That: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men.
Facebook Group for Domestic Abuse and Trauma recovery:Bonshea Making Light of the Dark.
Durga Strong promoting physical, spiritual and mental health Wellness blog.
Other DV organizations We Like
The Duluth Model: An innovator of ways to hold batterers accountable and keep victims safe.
WomenSV: An excellent overall victim-resource based in Silicone Valley with an emphasis on wealthy and powerful abusers.
Organizations Powered by Survivors
SOAR: A grassroots, survivor-based, DV organization in Rhode Island.
A Colorado nonprofit also led by survivors, with a helpline, online support group and survivor retreat: Break The Silence Against Domestic Violence (BTSADV).
Education by a Survivor: Don’t Look Back.
The Power and Control Wheel was created in the 1980s, but the tactics abusers use to get and keep control of the person they claim to love are the same.
Click here to download, print and customize your own Power and Control wheel to help understand the abuse that YOU are going through or experienced. We are happy to mail you a printed copy of this wheel with an FOV-branded highlighter!
