Teens are learning what is love and what is not love through an impactful Finding Our Voices program visiting 16 middle schools and high schools across six Maine counties through April.
“It touched on everything including abuse to males,” was the feedback from one student, “and as a guy I appreciated that.”
The winter/spring leg of the 2026 Love/not Love school tour is taking the nonprofit from Sanford to Baileyville, with the group planning to start its school visits up again in the fall.
Mary Kamradt, the nonprofit’s director of operations, said that a middle school principal in Somerset County just told her their relatable messages to young teens about normalized dating behaviors that are not OK is desperately needed and “I want you to stay here for two weeks!”
The cornerstone of the program is a hands-on project students are calling both fun and informative, where they identify pop culture couples that seem to have unhealthy relationships, then document the abusive behaviors on an adaptation of the Power and Control Wheel.
A survivor-informed and Maine standards-compliant curriculum of three class periods is provided to teachers for presenting to their students in order to lay the groundwork for the Finding Our Voices visit.
Another key aspect of the tour is volunteers ranging in age from 15 to 21 traveling with Finding Our Voices and also coming in on Zoom to share their experiences of dating abuse, with one student reporting “”It was good hearing from someone closer to our age that we can relate to more.”
Finding Our Voices usually works with students in health classes, and is often invited to also make presentations to the entire school as was the case March 9 at Deer Isle-Stonington High School. McLean said at Morse High School in Bath and Dexter Regional High School, the nonprofit took up a two-day residency.
“This was an amazing learning experience,” one young beneficiary of the project commented, with other students reporting learning “how easy it is to get caught in a toxic relationship and not know it”, “abuse can be more than hitting” and “it can happen to anyone.”
Founder/CEO Patrisha McLean said, “It was good hearing from the principal of the last school we visited that our program is very powerful, and even better to be told, ‘We look forward to inviting you back in the fall.’”
First National Bank is a sponsor of the Finding Our Voices school program.
Finding Our Voices is the Camden-based grassroots nonprofit breaking the silence of domestic abuse across Maine and providing critical resources to women survivors and their children including Get Out Stay Out funding, access to free dental care, and an online support group. More information about the Love/not Love school program is athttps://findingourvoices.net/youth-outreach. For more information about Finding Our Voices visit https://findingourvoices.net.
