Day retreat, nature journaling for sister survivors of domestic abuse offered in Wells
Rebekah Lowell, Maine Master Naturalist, book author/illustrator, and Monarch butterfly rescuer, is one of 45 Maine women survivors breaking the silence of domestic abuse on Finding Our Voices posters in business windows and bathrooms in 100 towns across the state. Here, Lowell is taping up her poster at a Kennebunk restaurant. (Photo by Patrisha McLean)
Maine Master Naturalist Rebekah Lowell will lead a Finding Our Voices nature journaling workshop September 21 in Wells for women domestic abuse survivors. Sketchbooks and art supplies provided by Finding Our Voices. (Photo by Rebekah Lowell)
Rebekah Lowell, Maine Master Naturalist, book author/illustrator, and Monarch butterfly rescuer, is one of 45 Maine women survivors breaking the silence of domestic abuse on Finding Our Voices posters in business windows and bathrooms in 100 towns across the state. Here, Lowell is taping up her poster at a Kennebunk restaurant. (Photo by Patrisha McLean)
Maine Master Naturalist Rebekah Lowell will lead a Finding Our Voices nature journaling workshop September 21 in Wells for women domestic abuse survivors. Sketchbooks and art supplies provided by Finding Our Voices. (Photo by Rebekah Lowell)
WELLS — Observer, naturalist, and domestic abuse survivor Rebekah Lowell is leading a Finding Our Voices "Healing Together" day retreat around nature journaling for sister survivors of domestic abuse, Monday, Sept. 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm in Wells.
The sliding scale fee ranges from zero to $100. Art supplies will be provided.
Lowell is the author/illustrator of two books, including the middle grade novel in verse The Road to After, told through the eyes of a child and based on her own 10 year captivity in domestic abuse. A Maine Master Naturalist, Lowell created the 2023 Common Ground Fair poster celebrating the metamorphosis of the monarch butterfly, and raises and rescues the winged insect.
"Nature journaling," she said, in an FOV news release, "has brought me healing and comfort and I love sharing this gift with other survivors."
Participants of the Finding Our Voices retreat will study insects, plants and other natural objects, and record them with words and watercolor and/or colored pencil in sketchbooks. The art materials will be supplied by Finding Our Voices through a grant from Mariah's Studio.
The day will include a potluck lunch, memoir-writing exercises, and optional trail hikes and ocean swimming. Maine women domestic abuse survivors are invited to register, or get more information about the event, at https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/bMJtFGJQuVQ8IxF885wOFg.
According to Patrisha McLean, CEO and founder of Finding Our Voices, the group's Healing Together retreats "teach skills, but just as importantly allow a respite from stress and worry, and provide an opportunity to connect with other women who have "been there too". With isolation such a hallmark of domestic abuse, this is eye-opening as well as comforting."
Finding Our Voices is the grassroots nonprofit breaking the silence of domestic abuse in Maine, including in schools, and providing heart-healing and life-saving support and resources to women survivors and their children. The nonprofit's no- and low-cost Healing Together retreats are provided a few times a year across Maine. Other programs include Get Out Stay Out funding, donated dental care through Finding Our Smiles, and a weekly online support group. For more information visit https://findingourvoices.net
