PhD researcher in psychoeducation & bibliotherapy
I explore a simple question with profound implications: Can a book heal hurts? My work turns bibliotherapy research into practical tools readers and practitioners can actually use.
Bibliotherapy
PhD submitted.
I SHELF-Care
Guide your discussions.
I Supervise
Online supervision.
I write to help
Can books heal hurts?
About Megan Bayliss
- PhD researcher in psychoeducation and bibliotherapy, thesis currently under assessment
- Research question:Â Can a book heal hurts?
- Developer of the SHELF‑Care framework, built from participant experiences and needs
- Focus on creating reader‑friendly tools that make bibliotherapy memorable and usable
- Interested in trade self‑help projects that blend stories, research, and guided reflection
- Professional supervisor social work and allied health
I’m a social work supervisor researcher and writer working at the intersection of psychoeducation and bibliotherapy. My PhD investigated how people engage with books to process pain, ask hard questions, and move toward healing, centred around a simple question: Can a book heal hurts?
Through in‑depth work with participants, I’ve developed the SHELF‑Care framework, a practical way to help people talk about what they’re reading and remember the stages of bibliotherapy. My goal is to make the therapeutic power of reading accessible, structured, and easy to use for real people, not just in academic settings.
Doctoral research
This doctoral project, currently under examination, explored how people use books as companions in their emotional lives, and how guided reading supports healing. Drawing on psychoeducation and bibliotherapy, I examined the ways readers connect with characters, stories, and ideas to make sense of their own hurts. Participant data highlights not only what helps, but also where existing models are hard to remember or apply in everyday life. A self-help book targeted at those working in the mental health field was produced as part of the research.
SHELF-CareÂ
SHELF‑Care is a simple way to remember and use the stages of bibliotherapy. A practical framework developed from my PhD data, it's designed to help people talk about what they’re reading & move intentionally through the four stages of bibliotherapy. Because those bibliotherapy stages felt abstract and hard to recall in real‑world conversations, participants wanted “an easy way to remember what to do.” SHELF‑Care answers that need with a clear structure and language that readers, facilitators, and clinicians can actually use. SHELF-Care does nor replace therapists - it needs them to use SHE F-Care as psychoeducational bibliotherapy.
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Future book projects
Building on my thesis, I’ve developed a trade self‑help book that invites readers into the question “Can a book heal hurts?” and gives them a guided way to use stories, characters, and narrative as part of their own healing process. The book introduces the SHELF‑Care framework in accessible language, blending participant stories, psychoeducational insight, and practical reflection prompts so readers can work through their own hurts with a book in hand. The next book is SHELF-Care as Supervision.
For publishers and media
I’m interested in partnering with publishers who want to bring rigorous, compassionate, and practical self‑help to readers navigating emotional pain. My work sits at the intersection of psychoeducation, bibliotherapy, and narrative, with a focus on making healing conversations around books both safe and simple.
- Trade non‑fiction self‑help titles on bibliotherapy and emotional healing
- Articles or essays on how reading can support mental health and processing hurt
- Talks, workshops, and interviews on psychoeducation, bibliotherapy, and the SHELF‑Care framework