Rate My Professor Sophie Haywood

Dr. Sophie Haywood serves as a Lecturer in the Curtin School of Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia. She earned her PhD in Psychology from Curtin University, with her 2023 dissertation titled "Experiential Avoidance and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury," supervised by Penelope Hasking and Mark Boyes. Comprising four studies, the thesis established experiential avoidance as a multidimensional construct central to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), urging adoption of lived-experience-aligned language. Haywood also completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Curtin University, where she engaged as a student mentor, PASS devotee, and summer research intern, contributing to projects like evaluating peer-assisted study sessions.

Haywood's academic interests center on NSSI, experiential avoidance, alcohol and other drugs (AOD), equity, discrimination, and mental health promotion for marginalized groups. Supported by a Research Training Program Scholarship, her publications include "Associations between non-suicidal self-injury and experiential avoidance: A systematic review and Robust Bayesian Meta-analysis" (2023, Journal of Affective Disorders; 40 citations), "Predicting peer-assisted study session attendance" (2019, Active Learning in Higher Education; 22 citations), "We have so much in common: Does shared variance between emotion-related constructs account for relationships with self-injury?" (2022, Journal of Affective Disorders Reports; 16 citations), "Untangling the link between experiential avoidance and non-suicidal self-injury: a multidimensional approach" (2024, Australian Journal of Psychology; 9 citations), and "Voices for change: inclusion of lived experience self-injury research, practice, education, and advocacy" (2025, Australian Journal of Psychology). As a research associate at the National Drug Research Institute, she advances AOD research. Her teaching covers health promotion in challenging contexts, mental health and social inclusion, psychological research methods, community psychology, qualitative research, and addictions treatment; she supervises Public Health Capstone projects. With prior roles in suicide prevention and AOD sectors, Haywood reduces stigma and inequities. She is Co-President of the Australian Health Promotion Association WA Branch.