Speaking at the WA Mental Health Conference 2024 on Lived Experience Leadership | Michael Elwan

I’m honoured to share that on Tuesday, 26 November at 3:30 pm in Break Room 8, I will be speaking at the WA Mental Health Conference 2024 on lived experience leadership.

This is more than a speaking engagement. It represents a personal and professional milestone. My pathway into mental health didn’t begin in a classroom; it began as a young carer in Egypt, supporting my parents through mental health challenges and physical challenges. Those early experiences taught me that lived experience is not a label; it is a lifeline. It bridges understanding and action, and it shapes everything I do today.

The WA Mental Health Conference is the State’s flagship mental health event; a place for shared vision, recovery-oriented thinking, and bold, future-focused solutions. This year’s theme, Solutions in Motion, speaks to the urgency of turning lived experience insight into systemic transformation.

My presentation focuses on something deeply personal: the power of peer work and the need to build a strong pipeline of future lived experience leaders. It is a call to ensure that those who have walked the path of pain, survival, and renewal are leading the system designed to support others.

From Egypt to Europe to Australia, I’ve witnessed how peer work can evolve from support to leadership, and how people with lived experience can influence policy, practice, and service design. The opportunity to speak at this conference allows me to share that vision, challenge systems, and celebrate the transformative role of lived experience leadership.

I look forward to connecting on Day 1 at 3:30 pm and continuing this important conversation with community members, professionals, and advocates across WA and beyond.

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.