Women survivors of domestic abuse heal together at Finding Our Voices retreat
Facilitators of the Finding Our Voices Healing Together Retreat in Brooksville, from left to right: Patrisha McLean from Camden, the nonprofit's founder and CEO; Lisa Nakamura from SETPoint; Liz Cutler from ArtWaves; and Yael Calhoun from GreenTREE Yoga. Nakamura, Cutler, and Calhoun all donated their workshops allowing the nonprofit to extend the retreat to survivors for free. (Photo by Patrisha McLean)
Twenty-two women domestic abuse survivors from all walks of life and from across Maine, and aged from 20s to 70s, came together at the Finding Our Voices Healing Together retreat in Down East Maine to rebuild confidence and community and also -- sometimes forgotten in the struggle to survive, protect one's children, deal with post-separation abuse, and rebuild -- have fun! (Photo by Lisa Nakamura)
Facilitators of the Finding Our Voices Healing Together Retreat in Brooksville, from left to right: Patrisha McLean from Camden, the nonprofit's founder and CEO; Lisa Nakamura from SETPoint; Liz Cutler from ArtWaves; and Yael Calhoun from GreenTREE Yoga. Nakamura, Cutler, and Calhoun all donated their workshops allowing the nonprofit to extend the retreat to survivors for free. (Photo by Patrisha McLean)
Twenty-two women domestic abuse survivors from all walks of life and from across Maine, and aged from 20s to 70s, came together at the Finding Our Voices Healing Together retreat in Down East Maine to rebuild confidence and community and also -- sometimes forgotten in the struggle to survive, protect one's children, deal with post-separation abuse, and rebuild -- have fun! (Photo by Lisa Nakamura)BROOKSVILLE, Maine — Women survivors of domestic abuse gathered July 11 on the Blue Hill Peninsula from across Maine for a daylong Healing Together retreat hosted by Finding Our Voices.
The 22 participants came from all walks of life and ranged in age from 20s to 70s. They convened at Sea Winds, a cherished landmark in Brooksville, to rebuild the confidence and community that intimate partners who claimed to love them had insidiously and classically robbed from them. “I didn’t realize other women had gone through this,” said one of the participants after a circle time of sharing invariably prompting nods all around. Other comments included, “I found my voice again,” and “I actually had fun. I had forgotten what that felt like."
Lisa Nakamura from Harpswell, a 8th degree black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu and the founder of SETpoint, led a personal safety class that included boundary setting. Liz Cutler, artist/founder of ArtWaves in Bar Harbor helped women create color glass mosaic- and felting keepsakes, and Yael Calhoun from Lubec, co-founder and executive director of GreenTREE Yoga, led gentle movement and breathing exercises. A leisurely potluck lunch prompted bonding as did blueberry picking and an ocean swim.
The three instructors donated their workshops. Likewise the owners of Sea Winds in Brooksville provided the event space to the grassroots nonprofit Finding Our Voices for free. The gorgeous property comprises an historic home, restored barn, and 80 acres of a sea-view lawn, meadows, forests and blueberry fields.
According to Patrisha McLean, CEO+Founder of the statewide and survivor-led nonprofit Finding Our Voices, the generosity of the providers allowed survivors to attend for free "which is important considering the financial abuse that is endemic to domestic abuse, and often means that when you manage to escape you have to start from scratch."
McLean said the Camden-based Finding Our Voices hosts both daylong and weekend low- and no-cost Healing Together retreats throughout the year all across the state. A Finding Our Voices retreat around nature journaling with Rebekah Lowell is planned in September at the Reserve at Laudholm in Wells.
About Finding Our Voices: Finding Our Voices is the grassroots nonprofit and sisterhood breaking the silence of domestic abuse in Maine including in schools as well as providing practical and heart-healing resources to women survivors and their children. For more information visit https://findingourvoices.net/.
