Survivors “Talk About It” in Portland For Domestic Abuse Awareness Month
Maine Irish Heritage Center Hosts the First Portland Finding Our Voices Survivor-Speaks Presentation on October 24
Thursday, October 24th
6:30pm
A panel of Maine survivors of domestic abuse will talk about their journeys when the Finding Our Voices “Let’s Talk About It” tour makes its first stop in Portland, Thursday October 24 at the Maine Irish Heritage Center. The 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. event is free and open to the public. It will begin with short films and conclude with a reception with refreshments, providing an opportunity for one-on-one conversations.
The lead business sponsor of the event is M&T Bank.
Panelists will include a teacher whose job was threatened when her abusive ex falsely accused her of abuse, Caroline McKuen whose pastor responded “I’ll pray for him” when she revealed the criminal sexual and financial abuse of her husband, Mary Lou Smith of Scarborough who was 65 years old when she escaped 43 years of being terrorized by her college professor husband, and former Portland TV news anchor Jeannine Oren talking about enduring 10 years of litigation abuse to get court-ordered child support.
Patrisha McLean is the CEO and founder of Finding Our Voices, which is a grassroots, survivor-powered nonprofit devoted to ending the stigma of being a domestic abuse victim and educating the public as to how domestic abuse is complicated, insidious, and everywhere. She said topics of discussion include advice on what to do and say when you suspect a friend or loved one is in an unhealthy or dangerous intimate partner relationship.
The Maine Irish Heritage Center is generously providing the space to Finding Our Voices in their gorgeous, block-long former church. This collaboration came about when the executive director and board president of the Maine Irish Heritage Center Eric Brown and James McClay attended a March fundraiser for Finding Our Voices put on by the Irish Actor Gabriel Byrne. “We are honored to be hosting these important conversations in Portland,” said Brown. “The previous events on this tour have been profoundly impactful, and we know that while these personal stories are difficult to speak and to hear, opportunities for them to be voiced are much needed.”
The “Let’s Talk About It Tour” launched two years ago at the Scarborough Public Library with 30 stops since then from Millinocket to York, and including Biddeford High School and Southern Maine Community College. Its last presentation of the year is 10 a.m. Saturday October 26 at Falmouth Memorial Library, in collaboration with Merrill Memorial Library in Yarmouth.
Local law enforcement will join the Maine Irish Heritage Center presentation, both to hear from survivors how they were helped and hindered by their departments, and also to provide an overview of the domestic violence situation in the Greater Portland area.
Patrisha McLean started the statewide, survivor-powered movement that is Finding Our Voices following the domestic violence arrest of her then-husband of 29 years, Don “American Pie” McLean. “We are here to fill in the enormous gaps in Maine,” she said, “for services, programs, money, advocacy, and a feeling of community, for women domestic abuse survivors. We are here to give first person accounts on how no one chooses to be abused, that domestic abuse is complicated, and there are all kinds of valid reasons for ‘not leaving’. We also provide the crime victim’s perspective as to how decarceration and reformative justice when applied to domestic abusers is endangering not only the women who are the primary targets of controlling and psychopathic men, but also children, police, and the general public.”
“Let’s Talk About It” is also the title of McLean’s new Podcast that is conversations with survivors of domestic abuse and that is being broadcast on the Portland radio station WMPG, located at the University of Southern Maine.
Finding Our Voices is perhaps best known for its poster campaign featuring McLean’s black and white photo portraits of 45 Maine survivors aged 18 to 84, along with a quote referencing their transcendence of abuse. Poster survivor-stars include Governor Janet T. Mills, an incarcerated woman, business owners, and students.
In addition to bold, survivor-powered public awareness, Finding Our Voices provides tangible and meaningful assistance to women and children survivors. This includes the Get Out Stay Out Fund that has disbursed more than $100,000 so far in 2024 for shelter, car, legal, home security, legal, and food costs; the Finding Our Smiles program of free, dignified, and gold-standard dental treatment; and online support groups. For more information about Finding Our Voices including its October events, visit https://findingourvoices.net or contact McLean directly at hello@findingourvoices.net