Pascale Maschnig standing with Kitrina Douglas standing in front of an online meeting on a TV screen..
Pascale Maschnig standing with Kitrina Douglas standing in front of an online meeting on a TV screen..

UWL MSc student Pascale Waschnig supports the families of missing people

Intro

In the UK, 150,000 people go missing every year. That's the population of the city of York. Globally, the annual figure is eight to 12 million, which is like the residents of New York going missing.

For Pascale Waschnig, who recently received her MSc Psychology Conversion from the University of West London’s School of Social and Human Sciences, the topic of missing people has a close personal significance – her own mother, who had Alzheimer's, went missing and was never found.

Main body

Pascale’s dissertation "Through the Prism of Missing; The Experience of Families of Missing People" won the 2023 Dissertation Award at the International Conference of AutoEthnography, held this summer in Bristol. She is also training as a psychotherapist.

Pascale, who is French, says:

I previously had a career working in human resources and project management. However, the experience of losing my mother - that feeling of being alone and not having any real help, made me see that missing people’s families need better information and support.”

Pascale chose to return to education and look at how she could contribute to developing help in this area. When studying Psychology at UWL, Pascale was inspired by the research style of her supervisor, UWL’s Professor of Narrative and Performative Research, Kitrina Douglas.

She explains:

Her approach uses art to make research more accessible. So, instead of focusing on writing journal articles, you can produce films that engage people emotionally.”

Pascale worked with 39 relatives of missing people to gain an insight into their challenges and look at how professionals such as doctors and police officers, can better understand and meet their needs. She has spoken at conferences including the UK Council for Psychotherapy and Research Conference and the International Conference for Missing Children and Adults.

She says:

I present case studies on what happened and how professionals could have intervened. And also use collage created by relatives themselves, as well as an animation and a film.”

Pascale is currently involved with the charity Missing People in supporting professionals in the field. Her work will be on display from 11 – 18 October 2023, at the Inside-outsider Art Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival in Edinburgh as part of the Scottish Mental Health Art Festival.

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