Sarah Wayland is an Australian social worker and health researcher.[1] Her research focuses on the areas of missing persons, ambiguous loss, grief and suicide bereavement.[2][3][4] She is Associate Professor in the School of Health at the University of New England and a Senior Research Fellow for Manna Institute.[5]
Wayland worked as a social worker from 1998-2010 in the fields of child protection and victims of crime.[3] In 2005, she received a Churchill Fellowship to study "the international approach to counselling for families of missing persons focusing on the concept of unresolved loss".[6]
She obtained her PhD from the University of New England in 2015, studying hope and ambiguous loss, and was awarded the Chancellors Medal for Doctoral Research.[3][7]
In 2019, she collaborated with the Australian Federal Police National Missing Persons Coordination Centre to publish "Acknowledging the Empty Space", a resource for those supporting people whose loved one is missing.[8]
She is a regular contributor to The Conversation, ABC News and Radio, and SBS.[1][2][9][10][11]