Governor’s Advisory Council on Military Sexual Trauma
Governor's Executive Order (PDF)
List of Members
- Chair: Captain Dustin J. Martin, Provost Marshal, Maine National Guard
- The Honorable Aaron M. Frey, Maine Attorney General
- The Honorable Maeghan Maloney, Maine District Attorney; President, Maine Prosecutors Association
- Lucia Chomeau Hunt, Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse
- Michael Sauschuck, Commissioner, Maine Department of Public Safety
- Dale Lancaster, President, Maine Sheriffs' Association
- Scott Stewart, Maine Chiefs of Police Association Designee
- Elizabeth Ward Saxl, Executive Director, Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault
- Rebecca Cornell du Houx, Executive Director, Sisters in Arms Center
- Mary Rose Callain, MST Coordinator, VA Maine
Upcoming Meetings
Past Meetings
- September 8, 2022: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Burton M. Cross Building, 1st Floor, Room 103 A & B; 111 Sewall Street, Augusta, Maine 04330 Directions
Slide Presentation
- September 19, 2022: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Burton M. Cross Building, 1st Floor, Room 103 A & B; 111 Sewall Street, Augusta, Maine 04330 Directions
Slide Presentation
- October 5, 2022: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Burton M. Cross Building, 1st Floor, Room 103 A & B; 111 Sewall Street, Augusta, Maine 04330 Directions
Slide Presentation
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October 20, 2022: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Burton M. Cross Building, 1st Floor, Room 103 A & B; 111 Sewall Street, Augusta, Maine 04330 Directions
Slide Presentation
- November 3, 2022: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Fallen Heroes Hall, 45 Commerce Drive (Department of Public Safety), Augusta, Maine 04330 Directions
Slide Presentation Meeting Recording Link Passcode: 25nh+Pyb
- November 21, 2022: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location: Fallen Heroes Hall, 45 Commerce Drive (Department of Public Safety), Augusta, Maine 04330 Directions
Slide Presentation Meeting Recording Link Passcode: x#^N*5.1
*More details on time and location will be released prior to the meeting dates.
More Info
The Advisory Council is charged with making recommendations to the Governor by December 1, 2022 about how the Maine National Guard can improve its response to sexual assault and sexual harassment within its ranks, with particular focus on coordinating state and local law enforcement and prosecutors and National Guard personnel as they respond to individual cases.
The Advisory Council is the next step in the Mills Administrations’ efforts to support members of the Guard who have suffered sexual harassment or assault.
To better support survivors as they interact with law enforcement or the legal system, in 2017 the Maine National Guard created, and recently strengthened, an Office of the Provost Marshal to serve as a centralized liaison and conduit to the law enforcement and criminal justice community. The provost marshal also ensures that service members who are victims of any crime have Maine National Guard support as their cases move forward. The Guard also recently hired its first-ever Victim Advocate Coordinator, which will enable the SAPR program to better recruit, train, and credential additional victim advocates, as well as provide additional 24/7 support to victims.
Additionally, with Federal funding now becoming available, Maine and other states are laying the groundwork for an Integrated Primary Prevention Program, as the National Guard looks to enhance existing programming by drawing holistic preventative efforts under a single umbrella. For Maine, this means an additional team of up to four personnel focused on increasing resilience and further reducing self-harm, substance abuse, any form of family or workplace abuse, and other issues that affect military populations and their families.
Last year, Governor Mills signed into law LD 625, which directed the Maine National Guard to evaluate what actions could be taken at the State level to strengthen or improve the Guard’s response to sexual harassment and assault. In March, the Maine National Guard submitted that report (PDF) to the Legislature, identifying five steps to strengthen its response to sexual assault and harassment, including forming the Advisory Council. The Governor then signed into law LD 2029, which when taken together with the Advisory Council and other actions being undertaken by the Maine National Guard, will fulfil the five action steps identified in the report to improve the Guard’s response to sexual harassment and assault.
Last Updated: June 27, 2023
