Michael Elwan Appointed as Inaugural Member of WA Mental Health Commission’s Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG)

I’m humbled and honoured to share that I’ve been appointed as an inaugural member of the Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG), established by the Mental Health Commission of Western Australia.

This appointment brings a unique opportunity to represent multicultural perspectives and advocate for culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) communities within Western Australia’s mental health, alcohol and other drug (AOD), and suicide prevention systems.

As someone from an Egyptian-Australian background, I’ve witnessed how culture, language, and belonging shape every experience of distress, recovery, and care. Too often, people from CaLD communities remain unheard in system-level decision-making - their stories filtered through models that were never designed with them in mind. Through this role, I hope to bring that missing lens forward: ensuring our policies and practices reflect the diversity and dignity of the people we serve.

The WA Mental Health Commission Lived Experience Advisory Group brings together a diverse group of people with lived and living experience (consumers, family members, carers, and advocates) united by a shared goal to embed lived experience leadership across WA’s mental health and AOD systems. Together, we’ll work to strengthen governance, inform policy, and co-design initiatives that move beyond inclusion toward genuine transformation.

For me, this role is personal. It connects my lived experience of caregiving, suicide loss, and migration with my professional work as a social worker, therapist, and researcher focused on lived experience leadership. It’s a privilege to contribute to shaping a system that is more relational, culturally safe, and just.

I’m deeply grateful to the Mental Health Commission of Western Australia for this opportunity, and to the many advocates and peers who’ve paved the way for lived experience voices to be heard; not as tokens, but as leaders.

Based in Perth, WA, LEXs provides telehealth counselling across Australia for individuals, couples, and NDIS participants. Services extend to Social Work supervision, Peer Work supervision, training, and keynote speaking on men’s mental health, CaLD community wellbeing, and culturally responsive suicide prevention; helping people and organisations make mental-health care more compassionate, inclusive, and effective. LEXs provides services across Australia, supporting clients in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and beyond. To learn more about our work across Australia, visit LEXs' services page.