Shayla Dugan is a former social worker and Arizona native who finally chose to pursue her writing dreams with her recently published novel, Learning to Swim.

After losing a daughter to stillbirth in 1999, Shayla self-published a short memoir in 2003 with the hope of helping other families cope with a similar loss. Her personal experience shifted her social work career focus from child welfare to grief and loss. During this time, Shayla wrote, researched, and presented on child loss at various professional conferences, provided CEU accredited training at multiple hospitals regarding hospice and palliative care, mentored grieving families, and held positions as both a hospice social worker and Director
of Palliative Care. Her work experience helped her to understand family dynamics and
appreciate the many stages of life and death and the hilarious and complicated personalities of
various age groups.

Shortly after leaving her social work career with the hope of becoming a writer, Shayla discovered “life had other plans” after nearly losing her father to a cardiac arrest in 2015. She dedicated the next several years to helping multiple family members through various health crises. This personal time in her life of experiencing the phenomenon of being part of the “sandwich generation” combined with her professional encounters became the inspiration for
Learning to Swim.

In her free time, she enjoys traveling, swimming, watching movies, watching football and futbol, spending time with her young grandchildren whom she lovingly refers to as “the hurricane” and correcting the behavior of her lovable yet slightly incorrigible lab/mastiff, Rowley Jefferson.