The following page is under development to provide support to individuals beginning the process of creating documentation of distressing experiences and events for the purpose of finding a way forward. We’re glad you’re here and we hope this helps.
There are multiple ways to create documentation and it is important to find or create a tool that feels like the right fit for you. At the bottom of this page is a starter Google Doc template for creating your Narrative/Timeline and an empty folder in which you can upload evidence. You can click and drag these folders into your own Google Drive account and no information that you enter into it will be shared or visible to us or any other party outside of anyone else who has login access to your Google account, who you grant access to, or who obtains a ‘Share’ link you create. When your folder or document is visible to others because you have granted access or created a visible share link, the folder will have the image of person added to the icon.
If you are concerned for your safety while creating your documentation, you may wish to create a new Google account to keep what you document separate from your other activities (ex. Personal email, photos, etc) if another party has or could gain access. Login and logout carefully each time you add to your documentation and do not allow the device you are using to save the login/password for this account.
General Instructions
Historical Narrative: Begin writing your experience up to this point. Where did it start? What are the incidents or patterns that have played out over time? Attempt to break the narrative down in a clear timeline, separating incidents where possible into the dates they occurred and putting them in order. Where you can’t remember exact dates, try to orient the incident in space and time using other reference points. Do you remember where you lived at the time? Were you still working at that old job? Was it before or after you painted your bedroom a different colour? Using other life reference points, you can place incidents in your timeline using the phrase “In or around…”. It’s okay to have more or less detail. Just write down what you can.
Ex. In or around Friday, February 19, 2021
Ex. In or around February 2021
Ex. In or around 2021
Ex. In or around the late 2010’s / early 2020’s
Warning: This may be a deeply distressing experience having to mentally return to distressing memories and facing the larger narrative as a whole, particularly if you are being asked/requirWarning: This may be a deeply distressing experience having to mentally return to distressing memories and facing the larger narrative as a whole, particularly if you are being asked/required to complete this record outside of your own intuitive processing timeline.
It can be additionally deeply distressing if in gathering evidence and records you discover that other entities have recorded your experience in a way that tells a very different story than what is true for you, such as your wording not being captured accurately in counselling records or a doctor having assigned you a mental health diagnosis you deeply disagree with and/or don’t meet the diagnostic criteria for.
Take breaks, and if you recognize any sensations of feeling disoriented, experiencing cognitive or memory issues, or feeling like you don’t want to keep living, please reach out to trusted help immediately.ed to complete this record outside of your own intuitive processing timeline. Take breaks, and if you recognize any sensations of feeling disoriented, experiencing cognitive or memory issues, or feeling like you don’t want to keep living, please reach out to trusted help immediately.
Contemporaneous Record: From here on out, do your best to capture information about current events as they happen in your documentation as soon as possible while the details are fresh. You may want to start keeping a notebook handy or use a notes feature on your phone to record details and then enter them into this record as soon as you are reasonably able. Maintaining records as you go is a respected practice as it helps to limit memory distortion that naturally occurs over time.
Details: Where you can, answer the questions of who, what, where, why, when, and how. Who was involved or present? What happened? Where were you when it happened or where did the incident take place (ex. In person, online, etc)? Was there an explanation provided for why it happened? When did it happen (date and time, and be sure to include the day of the week as this detail may become deeply important later)? How did it happen?
Evidence: Do you have any records or evidence from that incident? Photos, emails, videos, notes, receipts, medical records, counselling records, etc? Save physical items in a safe location. Also take photos of that physical evidence and upload them along with other digital evidence to a Google Drive folder, pasting the “share” link for that file with the matching entry in your documentation for ease of reference.
Dissociation and Deleting Evidence: When people have experienced distressing or traumatic incidents, reminders of that experience can cause a person to experience an instinctual need to escape, resulting in throwing out, deleting, or otherwise destroying evidence. Many people don’t even remember doing it or feel like they were in an altered state. If this has happened to you, do not be hard on yourself, you experienced a very normal human reaction to distress. It’s okay to take time to grieve the loss of something that could have been helpful. Just remember that you’re here for a reason. Something still exists whether it is your memory, or someone else’s memory, or other records or items that say what you experienced was real and worth documenting to support your ability to move forward. Keep going, you’ve got this, and ask for whatever help you need as you go along.
TEMPLATES: The following is a template/sample of historical/contemporaneous narrative documentation. You can also create a Google Drive “Evidence” folder in which to begin uploading your evidence and paste the share links in your narrative with the relevent entry to make connecting and reviewing the story and the avialable evidence simpler. You can open your Google account, go to Google Drive, add this template file to your Google Drive to get started.
Creating this record is an act of hope for yourself and your circumstances, helping to lay out groundwork for concrete action moving forward toward the life you’ve been trying to live or build.
Keep focused on what you want and what you need. This will help you identify the very real needs that you have for making a workable plan and will help identify what research you need to do or what help you are looking for. Do you need somewhere else to live? A safe escort to help you collect your things? Do you need to disappear so that someone can’t find you? Do you need to protect your children? Do you need legal advice? Do you need to establish separate finances such as obtaining your own personal credit card or opening your own bank account? What things do you feel confident you can do? What things do you have no idea how to do or don’t know how to do safely? There are many support resources that can help you identify who is available to help you or what counselling may be open to your for your circumstances. Not every support is going to be the right fit. If it’s the wrong fit, it’s okay to step back and try again when you’re ready.
You are such an incredibly valuable person with unique strengths, insights, and things only you can be and do. You are needed. You are valued and wanted in this world (you’re the reason we created this web page!). Take this one day at a time. One breath at a time if you need to. And ask the world around you for all the help you need.
Are there improvements we can make to this page or other tools you would find helpful? Please let us know at info@opendoordevelopment.ca.