Dr Nick Baylis
Psychologist & Psychotherapist
sharing the guiding principles & practical skills
for all-round well-being throughout a lifetime.
“Please tell me about the challenges you’re facing,
and together we’ll find a way forward.”
Radiant Well-being is the ability to thrive beautifully
no matter what life throws at you
Since earning my PhD in this subject at Jesus College of Cambridge University in 1999,
I have explored & shared the insights that nurture All-Round Well-Being for courageous individuals, schools and companies, all over the world.
Lecturing The Science of Well-Being
at Cambridge University for 8 years
gave me the opportunity to write The Rough Guide to Happiness for Penguin Books, and 100 weekly columns as ‘Dr FeelGood’ for The Times newspaper.
The Royal Society of London (1660) invited me to co-host
the 3 days of their first-ever Conference on The Science of Well-being with contributions from the ‘Nobel Laureates’ Daniel Kahneman and Harry Kroto.
My interviews with 100 highly accomplished individuals
including some of the world’s leading practitioners in a range of disciplines: the BBC news anchor Kate Adie, and England football captain Gary Lineker; authors Bill Bryson and Nick Hornby; chef, Jamie Oliver, the commander of The SAS Regiments & British Armed Forces; and entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox who now heads The Open University.
I asked: “How do you make progress in life, and how do you enjoy the journey?”
Creating Trail-Blazers Mentoring for youngsters in jail
After serving as a creative-writing tutor in a high-security London prison,
I was fortunate to raise £150,000 so I could create this charity that allows
skilful Volunteers to help guide young men & women in their teens & twenties
as they prepare to leave custody. Trail-blazers goes from strength to strength
these 20 years on, and was celebrated by a major reception at The House of Lords.
Teaming-up for Well-Being in Schools & Universities
In 2018 – 2019, I worked closely with England’s famous Rugby School (founded 1567) to help ensure the all-round well-being of their Students & Staff. My working with schools began in 2006, when I frequently consulted to the renowned educationalist, Dr Sir Anthony Seldon at Wellington College. Since then, I’ve presented in over 100 primary & senior schools and in many of the Colleges of Cambridge University.
Autumn & Winter of 2026
This October ‘26,
I was delighted to ‘guest-lecture’ as I did last year,
in Cambridge University’s Maxwell Centre,
located in the famous Cavendish Laboratory
of the Department for both Experimental & Theoretical Physics.
For the Masters-level Participants who’ve joined the University
from all over the world,
I gladly led three consecutive ‘afternoon workshops’ under the title
‘How Courage Works’
I began, as I did in 2025, with a few moments of the beautiful ballad
by Miss Billie Eilish, whose song asked “What was I made for?”
To raise some possible answers, our three workshops explored:
How might we build & apply Personal Courage in everyday life?
(and befriend our most inhibiting fears.)
What pre-cursors typically converge to cause Serious Mistakes?
And how might we recover ourselves, perhaps inspired by KintsuKuroi?
How might our paying attention to Truth, Goodness and Beauty
help create a radiantly healthy approach to opportunities & next steps?
Intrinsic to the above, we also discussed …
Why are Real Life and Real People so irreplaceable to us?
Though they have their ‘imitations’, they have no ‘genuine substitutes’.
What principles & practises help nourish our best performances?
What are the essentials to sustain such highly-embodied creatures?
And what are the implications of our having two brain-hemispheres?
What can get in the way of our natural-callings
to care for & create Truth, Goodness and Beauty?
What can we learn from the most admirable lives gone before us?
Also this October,
I was privileged to present to local SAMARITANS
members of the suicide-prevention charity,
whose Volunteers are there to listen to each Caller.
We discussed how Samaritans might take good care of themselves,
in their challenging and vital work.
Between now & Christmas, I’m producer & curator for
‘The Cambridge SongBook’
This is a collection of brand-new ‘Romantic Ballads’
solos & duets.
These 8 songs are interwoven with a larger creative project
which will launch internationally in the springtime of 2027.
The SongBook requires me searching for, and working with,
a range of beautiful singing-voices.
A short video montage of me on stage presenting
This nicely demonstrates my laughable dress-sense. I’m at the HQ of the international healthcare company, SAP,
who kindly had me back a couple of times to give 90-minute keynotes.
This audio explains what I do, and why
It’s the intro to my 6-hour audiobook, so I drone on about how I fell in love with the question of
What can each of us do to help a lifetime go wonderfully well?
“Fascinating. To understand your own needs is the first step in understanding the needs of others…
Lt. Col. Maria Holliday (retired) a former C.O. of The British Army’s Military Police,
particularly when the chips are down.”
and winner of The Queen’s Gallantry Medal.
“Rarely have I experienced a better blend of wit, wisdom and compassion presented in an engagingly refreshing writing style. I am sure you will enjoy it and benefit fully from its ‘spot-on’ relevance to contemporary life.”
Stanford University Professor Phil Zimbardo is the former President of the American Psychological Association with its 150,000 members
Contact Nick with your questions in Complete Confidence
“Rest assured, I’ll be the only one to receive your message, and will reply within 24 hours.”
Mailbag@DrNickBaylis.com
(for UK + 44) 07890 946723