Sarah Wayland

Sarah Wayland is an Australian social worker and health researcher. Her research focuses on the areas of missing persons, ambiguous loss, grief and suicide bereavement. She is Professor in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Sciences at the CQ University, Sydney and a Senior Research Fellow for .

Education and career

Wayland worked as a social worker from 1998-2010 in the fields of child protection and victims of crime. 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".
She obtained her PhD from the University of [New England (Australia)|University of New England] in 2015, studying hope and ambiguous loss, and was awarded the Chancellors Medal for Doctoral Research.
In 2019, she collaborated with the Australian Federal Police to publish "Acknowledging the Empty Space", a resource for those supporting people whose loved one is missing.
She is a regular contributor to The Conversation, ABC News and Radio, and SBS.