Undaunted.co - A Safe Documentation Space for Victims-Survivors of Family Violence
We sat down with Renae, Founder and Creator, to talk about her website resource Undaunted.co, a safe space for survivors or victims of family violence (abuse), to document and store evidence if they are not yet ready to report. Renae, who describes herself as a science nerd and an enthusiastically mediocre guitar player, is a survivor of domestic violence herself.
How did Undaunted come to be? What was the intent behind it?
Sharing a little about her story, Renae spoke to her experiences as a victim of abuse and created Undaunted on the heels of her own family court proceedings, where her journal entries, which had been used as evidence in court, were dismissed as inviable due to them being hand-written. The defending council had labelled them ‘made up’ prior to the date of court, despite the entries being dated and documented over Renae’s years of abuse.
In order to prevent what happened to her from occurring to anyone else, Renae started Undaunted as a private, safe, and secure space for victims-survivors of family violence to document and/or upload evidence. Renae collaborated with a number of remarkable people, including The Today Centre and a constable with Edmonton Police Service, to create a website where victims-survivors can store evidence and/or document events as they happen. Each entry is date and time-stamped and after it has been saved, it cannot be edited in order preserve the integrity of the document(s) and entries if they are ever needed for court purposes. The individual is in full control of their information throughout the whole process, allowing them to go in and select the exact evidence/documentation they desire to use and delete any documentation they no longer wish to use. What is great about Undaunted is that all information uploaded is also both password protected and encrypted, so that the only person who gets to make decisions regarding the information is the victim.
How long has Undaunted been around?
Undaunted officially launched in the Summer of 2020 but has been in the works since 2017. But since Renae works full-time outside this passion project and there were a lot of moving pieces that had to be put in place, it took a little longer to get it off the ground then she had originally hoped. Because of the feedback she received during the creation process and to ensure Undaunted is a safe AND secure place, Renae decide to use two data-management systems to store and record the data. Having two platforms helps increase security in case one platform is hacked and information is lost.
How would a new user come to Undaunted and start the documentation process?
Step 1. Created in mind of the user, no matter which tab of the webpage you are on there is accessibility to logging in and/or registering for an account, which is located in the top right corner of the website.
Step 2. To register as a first-time user you can select the ‘register’ button on the main home page or in the top right hand corner.
Step 3. Once users have registered using their name and email, they can begin to start documenting entries. The structure of each entry is similar to what it’s like to make a police report. Renae did this to ensure that there was continuity between the presentation of information and what court proceedings may look for within that information.
Step 4. Users must save the entry before uploading any evidence (ie. photos, text messages, etc.) that may go along with it, doing so connects any necessary evidence to a specific entry. Although the information that is uploaded cannot be edited or changed following the saving process, all information can be added to by uploading supplementary evidence that may be associated with the same event.
Step 5. Since Renae desired for Undaunted to be a space where victims-survivors felt in control of their information, she added the ability for users to select specific data entries that they desire to use for court instead of presenting all of them. At any point in time, users are able to delete uploaded information.
The best part Renae says, is that all of the entries are organized chronologically in order to reduce re-traumatization of victims by having to search through evidence/information that may be located in various places or at various dates. Undaunted helpfully saves all the information in one space. Speaking into her experience, Renae also added a quick exit button to the webpage in case a perpetrator or someone unsafe enters the room during the logging process. The button will take the user to an empty google home page and leave the Undaunted website.
What are your hopes for Undaunted in the future? What growth do you have in mind?
Renae hopes to see Undaunted grow and expand in its usership, increasing the accessibility of it for those who really need it. As it grows, she hopes to receive more feedback to be able to refine Undaunted into something that is exactly what victims-survivors need to document and preserve evidence moving forward. After that she hopes to develop educational resources that are more accessible online for those who experience isolation within their relationship.
How can others get involved with this project?
Renae encourages others to pass Undaunted along! She says that though you may not necessarily need it yourself, someone else might be silently suffering and need a resource like this.
If you’d like to reach out to Renae with any questions or comments you can reach her at renae@undaunted.co.
Domestic Abuse survey
Have you been in an abusive relationship? Have you been in a healthy relationship?
Undaunted.co is looking to gather feedback on how to better support victims-survivors of family violence and is looking for stories/information/feedback from both abusive and healthy relationship experiences.
If you are open and ready to share a bit of your story in this anonymous survey, you can follow the link here or scan the QR code in the image. Taking just 10-15 minutes, the results are completely anonymous and will only be used to gather information on better serving those who have been impacted by family violence.