Origin Story
She has worked in addiction medicine for 20 years. As we spoke, we reflected on a "Journey Map" inspired by the lives of those with pregnancy-associated death in Maine. The composite patient’s “journey” was created by the Maine Maternal, Fetal, and Infant Mortality Review Panel to humanize the study’s data.
Responding to the Journey Map, she noted, “People don’t believe these things happen, but they do. Each step in the map is from a real case.” These are steps she has seen often in her work with pregnant and postpartum individuals with substance use disorder.
She explained her frustration with the system that she is part of, including how it often fails and results in people being afraid to seek the care they desperately need. She describes herself as a “proud rural Mainer,” and works to change the system by influencing, training, and educating the people working within it. “Seeking care should be seen as a good thing,” she said. “We already have a lot of the resources we need to make change and the care we provide does work.”
Yvette Perry, Listener Poet
September 2026
Sonnet for the Ships in the Sea
By Yvette Perry, Listener Poet
With every phase of their voyage, they risk
Sinking between rocks and hard spaces. I
Work between heartbreak and anger. Today
Anger wins, stigma prevails, and hope drowns.
Today, return-to-use triggers blame, then
Our judgment erases them, revealing
Moral failure and not chronic illness.
Today, no unicorns, no happy ends.
We should be wrapping our arms around them.
We should be helping them mitigate harms.
Pregnancy can catalyze change and the
Right tools are right here to help make change real.
We should stop abetting winds and torrents,
And instead be their anchors in the storm.
He speaks with honesty, vulnerability, and raw emotion about where he has been, where he is, and where he wants to be. Our conversation is grounded in a "Journey Map" inspired by the lives of those with pregnancy-associated death in Maine.
She has worked in addiction medicine for 20 years. As we spoke, we reflected on a "Journey Map" inspired by the lives of those with pregnancy-associated death in Maine. The composite patient’s “journey” was created by the Maine Maternal, Fetal, and Infant Mortality Review Panel to humanize the study’s data.
“This is my life’s purpose,” she says. “This is where my heart comes alive, where I need to be.” She is a peer recovery partner to women with substance use disorder who are pregnant, parenting, and seeking custody.
