1st entry 24/10/2020- At the beginning

Little round-up of what happened throughout my first three weeks during the MMP

At the beginning I had three ideas for my Major Multimedia Project but after undertaking my research I decided on my third one which was trichotillomania. I wanted to inform and raise awareness about it as well as the need of more research into the cause of it. After doing more research I chose my targeted platform BBC SOUNDS RADIO 4 for the ''Can Humans Change'' podcast.

Before my pitch, I contacted charities, doctors, organisations and people living with it, mainly from the USA. After presenting my idea to my tutors I had to change my interviewees and look for new ones within the UK as I wanted to keep it national.

Now

As my fourth week comes to an end, I am happy that I have accomplished many things so far while working on my project.

After sending many emails out and getting in contact with possible interviewees , I found a doctor who is a neuropsychiatrist interested in trichotillomania from London who can cover the angle of a need of more research into what is causing the disorder and my interview with him will be next Tuesday via a phone call.

For my second interview I wanted to talk with Lucinda Ellery who is a hair extension supplies that has salons all over the UK and US. We had a chat on Monday, and she was more than happy to talk to me as well as putting me in contact with other girls living with trichotillomania with whom I can talk to.

Some of the obstacles that I had faced so far was the inability to find an expert in neurology/neology interested in trichotillomania which was quite frustrating. My main aim was to talk to Dr.Sam Chamberlain as he was the lead author of the study made in 2017 that looked at brains of people with trichotillomania and what could be different at it, but it was impossible to track him down no matter how many times I have tried.

One of my other challenges was realising that my interviewees were all American at the beginning and I wanted to do it national, so I had to leave them all aside and look for others within the UK. It seemed hard at first but then I joined some Facebook groups and did more research which helped me succeed in my goal.

This is the poster I used when pitching my idea to my tutors.