Lived Experience Australia is the national peak body for people who access privately funded mental health services, their carers, family and kin.
Australia's Private Mental Health Peak Body
Lived Experience Australia is Australia's federally funded national peak body representing people who access private mental health care and their families, carers and supporters.
We shape mental health policy through systemic advocacy, research partnerships with universities, and capacity building across Australia's private mental health sector.
For over 20 years Lived Experience Australia (LEA) has been advocating for and with those with lived experience of mental health challenges, their carers and family members.
LEA is a national systemic advocacy, research, and capacity building organisation.
What we do
As Australia's national peak body for private mental health consumers and carers, Lived Experience Australia works across three core areas to strengthen mental health policy and practice.
National Mental Health Advocacy and Policy
We bring lived experience voices into mental health reform through systemic advocacy at national and state levels. Our policy work includes submissions to parliamentary inquiries, responses to government consultations on mental health frameworks, and direct engagement with federal and state health departments.
We address systemic issues affecting people accessing private mental health care across Australia, from hospital closures and mental health workforce development to treatment standards and human rights protections in mental health services. We maintain collaborative relationships with government agencies, professional colleges, and mental health sector organizations to ensure consumer and carer perspectives shape mental health policy from the design phase. Recent advocacy includes submissions on the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement, psychosocial disability supports, and private psychiatric hospital sustainability.
Mental Health Research Partnerships
We partner with universities and research institutions to expand the evidence base for mental health system reform in Australia. Our research collaborations with Flinders University, Queensland University of Technology, and other institutions examine peer workforce development, consumer experiences of mental health care, and barriers to accessing private mental health services.
Through our Representative Panel of over 120 consumers, carers, and people with lived experience of mental health challenges, we contribute to research design, data collection, and knowledge translation. These partnerships ensure mental health research reflects the priorities of people navigating Australia's mental health system.
Sector Capacity Building and Training
We build capability across Australia's mental health sector through training programs, learning resources, and consultation with mental health services. Our online learning platform delivers over 30 courses covering mental health advocacy skills, trauma-informed engagement, human rights in mental health care, and organizational readiness for peer workers in mental health services.
As the private sector peak body, we work with private psychiatric hospitals, primary health networks, and mental health providers to develop lived experience engagement practices and support peer workforce development. Our Digital Library provides mental health workforce frameworks, toolkits, and practical resources for integrating lived experience into mental health service delivery. We've trained thousands of consumers, carers, mental health clinicians, and service leaders since 2002.
Who are we?
All of our board members and staff each have their own lived experience of mental health challenges as consumers, carers, or both.
Because of this, LEA is an informed, authentic, lived experience organisation that is trusted by consumers and carers to understand and advocate for their unique needs and perspectives.
Lived Experience Australia supports a highly skilled workforce through provision of quality research, training, and resources for consumers, carers, clinicians and service providers for improved, inclusive and responsive mental health services across Australia.
Our Leadership Experience
In 2021, LEA was announced as the winner in the Lived Experience Leadership category of The Mental Health Services Awards for Australia and New Zealand.
This recognition was for significant and sustained consumer and carer advocacy with the citation reading:
Making a difference with and for consumers and carers.
This was achieved through our activities and their translational impact, particularly over the past 3 years, with an increasing number of submissions to support inquiries into mental health and suicide prevention, our capacity building program and our lived experience led research achievements.
What is 'Private' Mental Health?
The Australian mental health landscape encompasses two distinct yet interconnected systems: public sector services operated by state and territory governments, and private sector services delivered through various practitioners and institutions.
As the Australian peak body for private mental health services, we are often asked what this means. Immediate thoughts are of private psychiatric hospitals, but there is so much more to private mental health services than this.
Private mental health services start with your General Practitioner (GP). This person is practicing medicine in a private practice (even though they may be funded by Medicare, which is publicly funded).
From there, other private services may include allied health, pharmacy, psychology, psychiatry, and - of course - private hospitals.
Our role as the peak body for these services is to provide lived experience representation from consumers, carers and family members who access these services to support policy reform and systemic improvements that are what people actually need, rather than what someone tells them they need.
Collaborations & Partnerships
Organisations and peak bodies we work with across Australia
Our Four Pillars - What we do
01. Advocacy
LEA is a conduit for people with lived experience to have their voice heard and make a difference in mental health in Australia, with extensive existing networks in all states and territories. We are inclusive and seek to advocate for all Australians.
LEA brings the voices of both consumers and carers together while recognising and appreciating the diverse views and different challenges the two groups may face, regardless of whether their experience is of public, private or non-government mental health services.
We engage with all levels of government in Australia, providing submissions, panel representatives, we attend inquiries and speak directly to those who can support our work to see Australia's mental health services be what they should be. You can see many of our past submissions here on our website.
LEA leadership is requested for plenary and symposium speaking engagements at conferences, webinars, by the media, and at inquiries as a trusted and authentic voice for lived experience.
02. Research
LEA is a leader in and has a strong focus on using translational research to inform our systemic advocacy. Our Lived experience research is conducted by, with, and for, people with lived experience.
We have strong partnerships with Universities and other professional bodies. We ensure that all our research is professionally conducted and reviewed. Our research page has more information on past studies we have conducted.
We are always seeking people to participate in our research so that we can gain greater insights into the unique lived experiences of people living with mental health challenges. If you receive our emails, you will be among the first to know about new research - giving you the opportunity to share your story.
03. Capacity Building
LEA has capacity building programs to support consumers, carers, and families in their advocacy. We are increasingly focused on the value of peer workers.
We also build lived experience understanding through workshops with clinicians and organisational staff. These opportunities to engage with and learn from consumers, carers, peer workers, agency groups, clinicians, and staff who participate, further inform our advocacy for improved, inclusive and responsive mental health services across Australia.
Learn when our training is coming up through our emails and view all of our available training at this link.
04. Connections
Lived Experience Australia aims to connect those with Lived Experience of mental health challenges, or their carers/family members with resources and others with similar experiences.
We do this in a number of ways:
Lived Experience Australia's State Advisory Forums are an opportunity to hear about the experiences of consumers and their families, empower community members to drive change and share the latest news affecting the mental health sector.
Our online Lived Experience Forums (in partnership with the help and qualified support of SANE Australia) allow people to connect when they can't meet face to face, or would prefer to connect online.
Our emails are how we connect with our community to share advocacy information, research opportunities, upcoming webinars and training sessions, and any other news we believe may be useful. Sign up to be a part of it.
We have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Vimeo accounts that you can follow to keep in touch in a more informal manner.
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