Milestone done: Confirmation of Candidature

I lived beyond the distress of having my PhD project assessed by the Brainy Bunch: Professor Jacqueline Ewart, Dr Leanne McRae and Dr Debbie Hindley. To juxtapose their brains, my two brilliant supervisors, Professor Tara Brabazon and Dr Aidan Cornelius-Bell were there to loan their academic and emotional support.

I am through. The process is to now present an application to the Ethics committee and to advertise for the 9 book clubs once ethics approval is given.

This is what my research is about (if time poor, I am on at 45mins and my presentation is 15 mins long): 

Now the real work begins. If you have ever had a mentally challenging life-changing experience (divorce, bereavement, job loss, exclusion, discrimination, war, dislocation, sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault, bullying, etc) AND you have read or are prepared to read Brene Brown's popular psychology then I'd love to have you at an online book club once this has gone through ethics and has a big fat green-for-go rubber stamp.

Mental health challenges occur for all of us throughout our lives and adversely affect our social and emotional well-being. This is not a research project for people who are actively psychotic, and, I stress, it is not just for people with a diagnosed mental illness. It is also for English speakers because that is the only language I speak, sorry, but it IS open to participants world wide....not just women either. I seek men's voices, diverse voices, non-binary voices. I seek representation of those who have faced a mentally challenging life-changing experience and who read Brene Brown.

👵🏼 Megan Bayliss

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