Dr Sarah Wayland

Sarah Wayland has research interests in psychosocial disability and trauma. She has received funding to progress small scale research projects relating to mental health needs of people left behind when someone is missing and the post incarceration health needs of people with blood borne viruses. She is also a Chief Investigator on an NHMRC funded project that uses a facilitated community development approach to better support young Aboriginal women leaving prison. She has been researching in the suicide prevention and postvention space for the last 5 years and is currently progressing projects relating to an evidence check for SAX institute on international suicide prevention data, lived experience of suicide prevention speakers and a service evaluation of the Lifeline Eclipse program for suicide attempters.

As a qualitative researcher, and previously as a mental health clinician, she actively engages consumers in her research and specialises in data collection and analysis of participants from vulnerable and marginalised population groups. Sarah is also a renowned researcher in the space of missing people. She regularly provides comment to mainstream media on the experiences of people left behind when someone is missing and seeks to better support those with mental ill-health who go missing.