Maine domestic violence resource centers focus on survivor storytelling for awareness month

As Maine ushers in October and, with it, cooler weather and brilliant foliage, the month will also mark Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This year, several of Maine’s domestic violence resource centers are highlighting a renewed focus on the stories of survivors who have lived through abuse.

“This is really in response to survivors asking for ways to speak out,” says Safe Voices Director of Development and Engagement Grace Kendall. “An important part of the survivor journey is taking control of that narrative, that story, that has felt stifled by someone controlling and silencing you.”

Kendall is the co-facilitator of the Safe Voices Survivor Storytellers group, which works closely with survivors in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties to develop their story for whatever medium the survivor is interested in. This year, members of the group who wanted to pursue public speaking will give the keynote address at the Safe Voices Fall Fête on Oct. 2 in Auburn. The group doesn’t work only on speeches, however. They might choose to write poetry, author a memoir or participate in interviews. One survivor who is struggling with a terminal illness and was unable to make it to group meetings even participated via the agency’s first-ever recorded oral history.

“To hear that she wanted to attend and her health wouldn’t allow it was tough,” says Kendall. “But pretty immediately, we were like ‘How can we get her involved and honor her experience?’ An oral history, where we came to her so she could remain in her home where she was comfortable, was perfect. It was such an honor to do that and spend that time with her.”

Caring Unlimited, the DVRC serving York County, developed their Survivor Stories Project in 2013. The project solicits written stories – whether essay, poem, stream-of-consciousness or other format – from survivors to include in the project. The stories are paired with information about domestic abuse and Caring Unlimited’s programs and services and presented to the public at a free, monologue-style performance. This year’s 13th Annual Survivor Stories Project will be on Oct. 23 at McDougal’s Orchard in Springvale.

“We know how powerful the writing and sharing of stories can be,” says Emily Gormley, Caring Unlimited’s director of development and community engagement. “Through this Project we are able to convey the incredible strength of survivors in our community while also bringing the community together to raise awareness.”

Further north in Dover-Foxcroft, the domestic violence resource center for Penobscot and Piscataquis counties, Partners for Peace, will host a Survivor Story Sharing Dinner on Oct. 23. The event will serve as a space for community members to come together, break bread and hear stories of resilience from survivors of domestic violence. Stories will also be shared from the organization’s ongoing Collective Story Project, a collection of contributed stories from survivors in many formats; written stories, collages, paintings and multi-media artwork.

“For us, it’s important to create spaces for survivors to share the truth of what happened to them.” says Casey Falkingham, director of development and engagement at Partners for Peace. “These opportunities also allow us to educate community members on how to be good story-listeners, because a story can’t be told unless there are people there to hear them.”

The impact on taking control of one’s story can be significant, advocates say. 

“For so long, a survivor’s voice, needs, wants, and preferences were devalued in that abusive relationship,” says Safe Voices Executive Director Rebecca Austin. “Being able to take your story back and tell it in your own words, with your own reflections and understandings of what happened and to be believed, can be really healing.”

“So many of us were silenced mentally, emotionally, and verbally,” says Noël Richardson, a member of the Safe Voices Survivor Storytellers group and a speaker at the Oct. 2 event. “Telling our stories is a way to not only take our voices back but remind others they still have one, even when they feel they don’t.”

The storytelling events are open to the public and designed to honor Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which takes place nationally each October. Other events throughout the state, including vigils, memorial walks, DVRC open houses and more, can be found via each agency’s website or in a compilation of statewide events curated by the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence at bit.ly/ME-DVAM-2025.