SPEAKING
Keynote speaking on lived experience leadership and mental health
Keynotes, conference presentations and panel conversations on lived experience leadership, multicultural mental health, suicide prevention and carer experience.
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Michael Elwan, Founder and Director of Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs), brings together lived and living experience, social work practice, senior service leadership and doctoral research. His presentations connect personal experience with the decisions facing organisations, practitioners and communities.
Perth-based. Online speaking engagements across Australia.
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2025 Social Worker of the Year, Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)
WHEN THIS IS THE RIGHT FIT
A defined engagement for a defined need
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Speaking themes
Lived experience leadership: from participation to influence
What allows lived and living experience to shape decisions about services, workforces and care? This theme explores the difference between inviting input and creating the authority, support and accountability needed for that input to matter.
Suitable for leadership forums, mental health conferences, workforce events and organisations developing lived experience roles.
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Multicultural mental health and culturally responsive practice
How do migration, language, racism, faith, family roles and belonging shape experiences of mental health care? Michael explores what services can miss when cultural responsiveness is reduced to translation, and what it means to recognise people in their cultural and relational context.
Suitable for health and community services, professional associations, multicultural organisations and research audiences.
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Suicide prevention, masculinity and culture
Conversations about distress do not always begin with the language of mental health. This theme considers masculinity, responsibility, stigma, help-seeking and the place of families and community relationships in suicide prevention, particularly for men from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Suitable for suicide prevention events, men's health forums, practitioners and community organisations.
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Caring, grief and conversations across generations
Drawing on his experience as a carer and of suicide bereavement, Michael explores the knowledge families carry, the responsibilities of young carers and the difficulty of speaking about distress across generations. The focus can include recognition, cultural expectations, grief and family participation in care.
Suitable for carer organisations, family and community forums, mental health services and professional events.
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Co-creation, power and shared decisions
Who defines the question? What is open to influence? What happens to people's contributions afterwards? This theme explores participation in service design, research and governance, with attention to decision-making authority, cultural safety and feedback.
Suitable for research symposia, service-design events, leadership teams and organisations involving consumers, carers and communities.
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Ethical storytelling and the responsibilities around lived experience
Personal experience can contribute to learning without requiring people to disclose everything. Michael explores purpose, consent, boundaries and the responsibilities of organisations inviting people to share lived and living experience.
Suitable for conference organisers, lived experience workforces, communications teams, researchers and community organisations.
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Formats to suit your event
Keynotes and conference presentations
A focused presentation to open, close or contribute to your event, shaped around its theme and audience. Discussion or questions can be included within the agreed session time.
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Panels and chaired conversations
Panel contributions, facilitated discussions and chaired conversations that bring lived experience, professional practice and organisational perspectives into dialogue.
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Webinars and recorded presentations
Live online presentations or recorded contributions, with the format, duration, audience interaction and recording arrangements agreed in advance.
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Workplace and community talks
Talks for professional teams, organisational leaders, carers, families and community groups, with language and emphasis suited to the people attending.
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Where the purpose is structured skills development, practice activities or a learning programme, a training engagement may be more appropriate. Speaking and training can be commissioned separately or combined within an agreed scope.
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Selected speaking engagements
Michael's experience includes conference presentations, online symposia, panel discussions, webinars and national professional development. Selected engagements are outlined below.
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Conferences and symposia
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National Suicide Prevention Conference | 2025
Presented Building Bridges, exploring intergenerational dialogue about mental health and suicide in multicultural families. The presentation considered how culture, family relationships and lived experience can inform conversations about distress, caring and support.
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Perspectives e-Symposium | 2025
Finding North Network and Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia (MIFA)
Presented on embedding lived experience leadership in multicultural mental health, exploring cultural barriers, representation and how community knowledge can influence the design and leadership of mental health services.
WA Mental Health Conference | 2024
Presented Creating a Pipeline of Lived Experience Leaders in Mental Health Systems, examining how organisations can develop and support lived experience leadership and strengthen its influence on policy, practice and service design.
WA Peer Supporters' Network Conference | 2023 and 2024
Presentations explored co-creation and the role of peer support in suicide prevention, alongside the structures, training and recognition needed to support lived experience leadership within mental health systems.
Webinars, panels and professional development
AASW | 2026
National webinar and professional development workshops
Designed and delivered three national professional development events for social workers: supporting mental health in men from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in March; mental health conversations across generations in multicultural families in May; and culturally responsive supervision in July.
Black Dog Institute | September 2025
Suicide Prevention Network Community of Practice
Presented on suicide prevention in culturally and linguistically diverse communities, exploring how culture, migration, caregiving and suicide bereavement shape understandings of distress and support. The contribution considered culturally responsive approaches involving families, faith leaders and community networks, and why effective suicide prevention requires more than translating existing information.
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Cross Cultural Voices | August 2026
Mariposa Trails
Contributed Recognised Before Assessed to a conference webinar on multicultural mental health and suicide prevention. The presentation explored how culture, masculinity, migration, grief and family roles shape mental health conversations, and why these experiences need to be understood alongside formal assessment.
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National Mental Health Consumer Alliance | January 2026
Consumer-Led Conversations webinar
Contributed to a consumer-led discussion on multicultural mental health and lived and living experience leadership. The conversation examined how culture, migration, language, racism and organisational power affect access, trust and participation in mental health care.
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Finding North | April 2025
Rights in Action webinar series, panel discussion
Joined the panel Starting Your Own Lived Experience Business, discussing self-employment, valuing experiential knowledge, professional boundaries and building a sustainable practice. The conversation also explored identity, culture and personal experience in independent lived experience work.
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National Mental Health Consumer Alliance | September 2026
Consumer-Led Conversations
Co-presenter as WA representative in the Multicultural Affinity Group, sharing work on culturally responsive mental health systems and participation. Watch the recording.
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Hader Institute masterclasses | October 2025 and August 2026
Delivered online masterclasses for Hader Institute learners. Watch the 2025 masterclass.
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ALIVE National Centre | September 2026
Emergent Ecosystems
Through his ALIVE Co-Lead, Carer, Family and Kinship Group role, Michael helped run Emergent Ecosystems on 24 September 2026 alongside fellow co-leads. The event brought together all four networks and 57 participants online and in person.
Audience care and boundaries
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Evidence-informed, culturally humble, trauma-informed content that respects emotional load while addressing complexity.
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About Michael
I am the Perth-based Founder and Director of Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs), an Accredited Social Worker and PhD candidate at Charles Sturt University. My research examines organisational support for lived and living experience leadership in mental health.
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My professional background spans frontline practice, senior management, therapy, supervision, consultancy and professional education. Before establishing LEXs, I held senior management responsibility across ten statewide mental health services and approximately 75 staff.
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I bring lived and living experience of caregiving, migration and suicide bereavement to this work. I work in English and Arabic and have published on co-creation and lived experience in mental health. I speak from my own experience without presenting it as the experience of every carer, migrant or person using mental health services.
​I am the winner of the 2026 Australian Mental Health Prize, Lived Experience category, and the 2025 AASW Social Worker of the Year.
I also received the Lived Experience Impact & Inspiration award at the 2025 WA Mental Health Awards and the Outstanding Individual Achievement Award at the 2026 WA Multicultural Awards.
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Planning your engagement
Start with the brief
Share the event purpose, audience, proposed date, format, session length and budget. Include the questions you want the presentation to address and any accessibility or audience-support requirements.
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Agree the contribution
LEXs will confirm fit and availability, then agree the topic, preparation, delivery and fee in writing. Recording, publication, reuse and any additional work are included in that discussion before the engagement is confirmed.
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Prepare for your audience
The presentation is shaped to the agreed brief. The balance of presentation, discussion and questions is settled with the organiser, alongside practical arrangements for delivery.
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Care with sensitive subjects
Mental health, suicide and bereavement require care in how they are discussed. Michael's approach is to connect personal experience with learning without relying on graphic detail or asking audiences to disclose their own experiences.
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Sensitive content, accessibility and audience-support arrangements are discussed with the organiser as part of preparation. Speaking engagements are educational contributions, not therapy or individual clinical advice.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Independent Recognition
2025 AASW National Excellence Awards​
Social Worker of the Year
Winner
2025 WA Mental Health Award
Lived Experience Impact & Inspiration
Winner
2026 Suicide Prevention Australia WA LiFE Award
Outstanding Contribution Individual
WA recipient
2026 Suicide Prevention Australia WA LiFE Award
Priority Populations,Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs)
WA recipient
2026 Western Australian Multicultural Awards
Outstanding Individual Achievement
Winner
2025 Western Australian Multicultural Awards
Sir Ronald Wilson Leadership Award
Finalist
2025 R U OK? Barbara Hocking Memorial Awards
Conversation Leader
Finalist
2026 Australian Mental Health Prize
Lived Experience
Winner, Michael Elwan
2027 Australian of the Year Awards
Australia’s Local Hero
Western Australian finalist, Michael Elwan