Our team

This project is made up of our Lived Experience Leadership Team (LELT), our Project Implementation Committee (PIC) and our experts.

The Lived Experience Leadership Team

The project is led by the Lived Experience Leadership Team who work with the Project Implementation Committee and the Expert Advisory Panel to ensure the research and model development is embedded with a consideration of lived experience.

The LELT is made up of individuals with personal lived experience and lived experience as carers and/or family and is at the heart of this project. Acting like a board of directors, they guide key project decisions and help keep the focus on the real needs and insights of those who have faced mental health challenges.

To support their involvement, they created terms of reference that outlines how the team will lead, co-design and collaborate, making sure their participation remains impactful and not purely symbolic.

A diagram of the team as described in the text on this page

Team members

Lived Experience Leadership Team

Susan (Suzie) Adam

Lived Experience Carer Representative
Deputy Co-Chair IAG Carer Representative ERG

Judy Bentley

Lived Experience Carer Representative

Benjamin Brien

Lived Experience Consumer Representative
Co-Design Group Member

Courtney Cross

Lived Experience Consumer Representative

Lyn English AM

Lived Experience Consumer
Representative Deputy Co-Chair IAG

Tim Heffernan

Lived Experience Consumer Representative
LELT Chair

Laura Grattidge

Lived Experience Consumer Representative

Ashley Holzapfel

Lived Experience Consumer Representative

Paul Klotz

Lived Experience Consumer Representative
Chair ERG

Professor Sharon Lawn

Lived Experience Carer Representative

Dr Alex Li

Lived Experience Carer Representative

Dave Peters

Lived Experience Consumer Representative
LE representative ERG

Reza Rostami

Lived Experience Consumer Representative (CALD), Member Literature Review Team

Mel Sherrin

Lived Experience Consumer Representative, Member Deputy co-Chair LELT, Chair IAG

Project Implementation Committee

Professor Russell Roberts

National Director, Equally Well Australia
Charles Sturt University

Tim Heffernan

Lived Experience Consumer Representative
LELT Chair

Professor Chris Maylea

La Trobe University

Associate Professor Clifford Lewis

Charles Sturt University

Professor Amanda Wheeler

Griffith University

Professor Sharon Lawn

Lived Experience Carer Representative

Professor Lisa Brophy

Law Trobe University

Dr Hazel Dalton

Charles Sturt University

Associate Professor Belinda Cash

School of Social Work and Arts University Lead
Manna Institute

Dr Kate Jackson

Director, Older People’s Mental Health, NSW Ministry of Health

Associate Professor David Lawrence

School of Population Health, Curtin University

Associate Professor Christian Swann

Southern Cross University

Associate Investigators

Associate Professor John Allan

Co-Chair, Equally Well Alliance
The University of Queensland

Associate Professor Julaine Allan

Rural Health Research Institute

Professor David Castle

University of Tasmania

Professor Mathew Coleman

Past National Mental Health Commissioner, Rural
Chair Rural Training RANZCP
Rural Psychiatrist

Dr Caitlin Fehily

The University of Newcastle

Associate Professor Joseph Firth

Western Sydney University

Associate Professor Faye McMillan

University of Technology Sydney

Mr David Peters

Co-Chair, Equally Well Alliance

Associate Professor Simon Rosenbaum

University of New South Wales

Ms Shifra Waks

University of Technology Sydney

Project Staff

Amrita Dasvarma

Lived Experience Research and Project Assistant

Dr Justin Chapman

Project Manager

Eve West

Project Officer, Stage 1, Literature Review

Dr Tessa Zirnsak

Principle Research Fellow, Stage 2b, Consumer and Carer Perspectives

Sonia Diab

Project Officer, Stage 3, Model of Care