mental health co-design | Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs)

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Draft mental health strategy with multilingual notes and a pen, representing co-design, lived experience leadership, multicultural engagement, governance, and shared decision-making.

Who Holds the Pen? Co-design, power, and lived experience leadership in mental health

Award-winning social worker, national advisor, and PhD researcher Michael Elwan on co-design, power and lived experience leadership, and who gets to decide what lived experience means.

Michael Elwan

Jun 105 min read

People collaborating in a mental health co-design workshop, exploring lived and living experience leadership, governance, participation, and shared decision-making. Featured image for the LEXs article "Why Co-Design Fails in Mental Health".

Why Co-Design Fails in Mental Health

Award-winning social worker, national advisor, and PhD researcher Michael Elwan explores why co-design in mental health often fails and what meaningful participation requires.

Michael Elwan

Jun 75 min read

LiFE Award Winner - Outstanding Contribution Individual - Michael Elwan

Michael Elwan - Award Winner - 2025 WA Mental Health Award - Lived Experience Impact & Inspiration

LiFE Award Winner - Priority Populations - LEXs

Michael Elwan - Social Worker of the year National award AASW

WA Multicultural Awards 2026- Michael Elwan Winner

Michael Elwan - Finalist - 2025 Sir Roland Wilson Leadership (WA Multicultural Awards)

Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs)
Where care feels human again

Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs) acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

At LEXs, lived and living experience sits at the heart of the work. I value the knowledge of individuals, families, carers and kin who navigate mental health challenges, distress and recovery, and whose expertise helps make care more human, compassionate and responsive. I am particularly committed to the wellbeing of multicultural communities, whose experiences are too often overlooked in mainstream mental health systems.

LEXs is committed to providing a respectful, inclusive and affirming space for people of all ages, abilities, neurotypes, cultures, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, body sizes and lived experiences.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 000. For 24/7 crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. LEXs is not an emergency or crisis response service. A list of 24/7 crisis support lines across Australia is available here.

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