DigitalMe - Survivors of Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence
The DigitalMe process empowers the most vulnerable in society to have a say about the issues that affect them, including those who can’t be identified for their own safety.
Digital Voice received funding from the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Supporting Victims Fund to engage women with experience of domestic abuse. Participants told the Digital Voice team what it was like to be a survivor and what they wanted to say to improve services for. They used several digital processes to produce this anonymous artwork.
The women discussed the messages they want to get across to other women, professionals and the criminal justice system. They decided which would be expressed as digital artwork and others became part of their scripts for their short animated films, with their self-portrait ‘avatars’ representing them, to maintain their anonymity.
" Thank you for allowing us to be part of this, we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! "
- Participant
The DigitalMe process also helps people learn about themselves, their qualities and strengths. Each learner chooses the strength they felt most represented them for their ‘scannergram’ self-portrait.
An event was held for the groups to share their work with professionals and Northumbria Police’s specialist Domestic Abuse Whole System Approach (DAWSA) Team. Some chose to speak at the event, to ask for their voices to be heard and explain how they felt about the project.
Detective Superintendent Deborah Alderson spoke after she watched their films and pledged to show them at the upcoming DAWSA conference and to ensure their voices would be heard by many who work on these issues in the criminal justice system. Northumbria Police have also pledged to use the films in their training for professionals.
This project was a partnership between NIDAS, Tyneside Women’s Health and Digital Voice for Communities and has been funded by the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Supporting Victims Fund.
