Contribute to PhD research: make a difference by discussing a Brene Brown book you read. 

Have you ever: 

1. faced a life-changing experience that created a mental well-being challenge for you, AND  
2. read one of Brene Brown’s books, AND 
3. want to use your experience and knowledge as important research to help others? 

If you answer yes to all three, I would love to include your thoughts (made anonymous after book club. See *) of the book you read, good or bad, into my PhD research project: What’s in your dash: Is reading Brene Brown an act of political, social, and cultural resistance to traditional intellectuals? I would absolutely love you to join an online book club to discuss your thoughts about the book you read…because your thoughts are worthwhile and valuable and may just help someone else get over their own life-changing experience. 

There will be eight online book clubs, one each for Professor Brown’s different books. You can come to one or all eight if you’ve read the books. I will be facilitating them on Wednesday's starting the 15th May: one at 9.30am AEST and one at 7.30pm AEST.  I am an experienced personal development book club facilitator and a mental health social worker of 30 years practice. I take personal pain seriously and respect that this book club may trigger you. For that reason, we have an extra counsellor in book club for you to disappear with into a private chat room to talk to about your pain. In fact, before you even attend book club, I’ll give you a list of telephone counsellors for you to talk with without me even knowing about it should that be easier for you. 

I deeply care about people and how they react to awful things that happen throughout life, like relationship breakdowns, deaths, loss of property/identity, violence, violation, growing up with dysfunction, or adoption. The things that make you think you are losing your mind and that you know are going to change your life.  

Book club will be online and in a group setting. *You do not have to have your video on and you can give yourself a made-up name if you want. You don’t even have to talk if you don’t want to – you can put your thoughts into the chat function so nobody hears your voice. This is important because I want to offer you anonymity and privacy. And, you can leave the research at any time. Just contact me and tell me to erase any of your discussion. I will honour that. 

Book clubs are open to all English speakers across the world (because that’s the language of the research, sorry). Due to time differences, each book club is recorded and posted to a members-only section of my website that you and others registered in your book club will have access to. This means members in different time zones can watch and leave comments about their reading of the book after the book club. Plus, bonus for you, you can go back and add any other thoughts you have after book club. The recordings will NEVER be made public. They become research data and I analyse them, depersonalise them and write them into my research so nobody knows who said that. Once the PhD data collection is complete, access to the members-only section is removed so nobody else can view the recordings. 

This means that all participation is anonymised and used for my PhD only.  As a thank you, you will get a digital copy of the relevant parts of the PhD or a copy of the book once published. Yes, I am turning this into a book so that your experience of reading Brene Brown becomes helpful to others. 

Through discussion at book club, I just want to know YOUR thoughts on the Brene Brown book that you read: good, bad or indifferent. There's no set questions but as a prompt think about why you chose the book you did and whether it has helped or hindered you.

If you are over 18, have experienced a self-identified mental well-being challenge following a life-changing event AND have read a Brene Brown book AND want to help others through research, then email me [email protected] 

I’ll send you a registration link that contains an informed consent to sign, a poem to read to help you think about what you may like to contribute toward discussion, dates/times of each of the eight book clubs, a list of telephone counselling numbers and instructions on how to register in the private members only section of my website. 

And, just so you know that this is totally legitimate and safe, requests for further information or queries about the study should be directed to the Principal Investigator, Professor Tara Brabazon, 0889467884. 

If you have any questions or concerns that you do not want to direct to the researcher, you are invited to contact the Charles Darwin University Research Integrity and Ethics team on (08) 89466063, toll-free number, 1800 466 215 or by email, [email protected]. The Research Integrity and Ethics team can pass on any concerns to the Charles Darwin University Human Research Ethics Committee (CDU-HREC) and appropriate officers within the University. 

I really look forward to meeting you at book club and valuing your experience of reading a Brene Brown book following a life-changing mental well-being challenge.  

Many thanks to my Industry Partner, Typeface books and to Charles Darwin University for supporting you in using your life changing experience to help others. 

👵🏼 Megan Bayliss, social work supervisor

👩🏼‍🎓 PhD candidate: social and cultural resistance to the status quo.