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.

LEXs is Michael Elwan's Perth-based practice, working online across Australia. Services include training and workshops, lived experience consultancy, Social Work Supervision, Lived Experience Leadership Supervision, Frontline Supervision, therapy and keynote speaking. Training and workshops can be commissioned for organisational leaders, practitioners and frontline teams, and carers, families and communities. Explore LEXs services.