Hides evidence in cloud that abuser can’t destroy
Abuse survivor Emma Davey has launched MyNARA (my narcissistic abuse recovery app) a mobile phone app that solves an age old domestic crime problem, evidence gathering. It gives victims a system for capturing the forensics needed by the courts and hides it from their tormentors, whose narcissism makes them demand complete control over their prey. In the one-sided psychological war between bullies and their victims, the latter are completely unprepared. By contrast, their tormentors have a natural inclination to systematically dismantle of their quarry. This means that abuse victims have little forensic evidence to resent the police. This app aims to give the victim better intelligence on two levels. Firstly, it provides contextual information about their tormentors behaviour towards them and counsels them not to blame themselves. Secondly, it provides a system for gathering (and hiding) the evidence needed to encourage the police to act.
No forensics
Most victims of domestic abuse, through no fault of their own, often give incoherent accounts of the incidents that have traumatised them. Davey’s new system enables them to provide a complete account of who, what, why, where, how and, most importantly, when the alleged crime(s) took place. It gives victims advice and support to end their isolation and features include NarcArmor, a 12-phase recovery programme, a journal to report incidents and permanent cloud storage so that victims can keep evidence for the courts, according to Davey.
Evidence gathering
Davey developed the app because she failed to persuade police to protect her as they needed forensic evidence and she had no experience in gathering or hiding it from her tormentor. For six years she suffered regular physical attacks. Davey’s intimidator had set up cameras in every room in their home, so that he would always know what Davey was doing and sent pornographic photos to Emma’s parents to humiliate her and them. She eventually escaped but he then tried to phone or text her 80 times a day. Davey was in such fear for her life that she took refuge in Australia. Eventually, Ashley Southgate, a property developer from Kent, was convicted of coercive control against Davey and sent to prison for 19 months.
Police give up easily
This was only possible because, while in exile, Davey qualified as a counsellor and set up MyTraumaTherapy and then, using her experience, created the systematic defence framework that became the MyNARA app. Now the app could help other victims to get taken seriously by the agencies, such as the police and social services, whose heavy caseloads make them selective about who they help. Davey’s abuser used to destroy her phones and hacked her computer to delete the evidence she’d gathered. “Narcissists are skilled manipulators and isolate their victims from friends and family,” said Davey. “Specialist counsellors are hard to find and too expensive for many victims. The first counsellor I saw did not understand the nature of narcissistic abuse and my abuser charmed her into believing that I was the problem.”
Narcissists all over their victims
UK-based Bigspark developed the App with Davey and the co-founder became part of the MyNARA management team. “Everyone knows someone who has been a victim and we could see that Emma’s ideas for the app solved so many of the problems that victims experience,” said BigSpark Director, Shaine Ismail. The MyNARA app is disguised on the user’s phone, so that the abuser won’t notice it and, even if they do, they can’t access it. Evidence of incidents, such as text messages, audio and video recording or photos of injuries, are stored in the MyNARA cloud. No-one, not even the user, can delete that evidence. This prevents the abuser from deleting it or charming the victim into deleting it. The app also has a journal facility to record incidents.
Trauma Bond
“We’ve worked on many distressing cases, where it is clear that our client is the victim of domestic abuse, but without evidence it is difficult to prove in court,” said Teresa Payne, managing partner of law firm Parfitt Cresswell. “MyNARA’s secret cloud storage system means that evidence can be recorded and makes proving the abuse our client has suffered so much easier. A classic pattern in narcissistic abuse is that abusers form a trauma bond with their victims early in the relationship. This is the reason why victims find it so hard to leave their abuser. They have an addiction to their abuser that is as powerful as substance abuse, said Davey. To address this the first phases of the NarcArmour programme supports the victim in a similar way to other addiction programmes. It gives the victim the tools they need to end the addiction one day at a time.
Recovery
Victims who want to take part in the 12-phase NarcArmour recovery programme, and those that need to store large quantities of evidence, are charged £6.99 per month in the UK and $8.99 in the USA. As financial control is a common feature of abuse, friends and families are able to pay for the app on behalf of the victim. Employers and charitable organisations can buy access for multiple victims. Access codes can be purchased from MyNARA. The MyNARA app behaves just like any other app on your phone, but is cloaked and locked with a PIN of your choosing. Is not yet available on App stores, but can be downloaded free here.