At Mental Health Families and Friends Tasmania (MHFFTas), we are often asked about the role of lived experience in service design and health system improvement. The voices of both consumers and their families and friends are essential in developing safe, effective, and person-centred mental health and alcohol and other drug (AOD) services. Families and friends provide a unique, independent perspective on the challenges, barriers, and opportunities within these systems for themselves and their loved ones. Their insights help shape services that are more responsive, accessible, and capable of delivering better health outcomes for the community.

MHFFTas represents the experiences of families and friends across Tasmania, ensuring that their needs and perspectives are central to service development and reform. Our representatives engage in a broad range of activities, including safety and quality oversight, governance, recruitment processes, working groups, and large-scale health initiatives. We empower our family and friend representatives to speak their truth, drawing on their lived experience to drive meaningful change. To support this, we provide structured training and a community of practice that deepens their understanding of the mental health system, enhances advocacy skills, and builds their capacity to contribute to systemic improvement.

Recognising the distinction between lived experience and lived expertise is essential for meaningful engagement and effective advocacy. Lived Experience refers to the firsthand knowledge gained from personally supporting a loved one with mental ill health or AOD use. Family members and friends who have walked this path offer invaluable insights into the emotional, social, economic, and systemic barriers embedded within mental health and AOD services. Lived experience includes both the struggles and strengths that come with navigating these systems, from accessing services to advocating for a loved one. People with lived experience bring authenticity to discussions, helping professionals and policymakers understand the real-world consequences of their decisions.

Lived Expertise is not solely about having experienced something firsthand; it is about developing the ability to apply that experience in structured and strategic ways to drive system change. It is about taking one’s own experiences and the experiences of the many to inform change. Individuals with lived expertise often undergo training, participate in governance structures, and work as consultants to ensure that services remain responsive to the needs of families and friends. Lived expertise builds upon lived experience by incorporating reflection, critical analysis, and the ability to apply personal insights in professional, advocacy, or systemic contexts. It involves:

• Taking on formal roles such as peer work, advocacy, policy advisory positions, or lived experience representative roles.
• Developing skills in communication, systemic thinking, and collaboration to translate personal experiences into broader insights.
• Contributing to service design, policy reform, and training to improve outcomes for families and friends.

Why Does This Distinction Matter?
Recognising the difference between lived experience and lived expertise is crucial for organisations, policymakers, and service providers. While all lived experience is valuable, not everyone with lived experience has developed the necessary skills or frameworks to contribute effectively at a systemic level. At the same time, those with lived expertise must remain connected to grassroots experiences to ensure their advocacy remains relevant and grounded in the realities of families and friends.

Some key reasons this distinction matters include:

• Appropriate Representation – When engaging people in co-design or policy development, ensuring a balance of lived experience and lived expertise leads to well-rounded discussions and better decision-making. Funders investing in paid lived experience services also benefit from this distinction, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to maximise impact.
• Capacity Building – Supporting individuals to move from lived experience to lived expertise through training and mentorship strengthens the collective voice of families and friends, enhancing their ability to drive change.
• Avoiding Tokenism – Genuine involvement goes beyond inviting people with lived experience into discussions. It requires creating structures that empower them to meaningfully shape and influence decisions.
• Fair Reimbursement – Individuals with lived expertise dedicate time, knowledge, and emotional energy to service design, policy reform, and advocacy. Recognising this contribution through appropriate financial reimbursement is essential for valuing their expertise and ensuring that lived experience engagement is sustainable and equitable. Appropriate compensation also reinforces the legitimacy of lived expertise roles and ensures that representatives can continue their advocacy without financial hardship.  All representatives at MHFFTas are reimbursed for their time.

MHFFTas’ Commitment to Strengthening Lived Expertise
At MHFFTas, we value both lived experience and lived expertise and are committed to creating pathways that support individuals in developing their skills and knowledge.

To achieve this, we provide:

• Comprehensive training opportunities to equip family and friend representatives with strong advocacy skills.
• A quarterly community of practice to facilitate peer learning and professional growth.
• Ongoing peer support provided by our Representative Program Coordinator to ensure that representatives feel supported and confident in their roles.

Understanding and valuing the distinction between lived experience and lived expertise is fundamental to improving the mental health and AOD services. By recognising and nurturing both, we ensure that family and friend voices are not only heard but also have a lasting impact on service design, policy reform, and systemic change. MHFFTas is committed to fostering this growth by providing structured support, training, and opportunities for meaningful engagement.

If you are a family member or friend of someone experiencing mental ill health or substance use challenges and would like to develop your lived expertise for systemic advocacy, we encourage you to connect with our friendly and supportive team at MHFFTas. By working together, we can build a mental health system that truly reflects the needs and insights of those who are often the primary caregiver to their loved one and the first responder in a crisis. 

*Our representative program especially needs more representatives in the North-West area and we encourage anyone in the North-West who has been/ or is supporting a loved one with mental health or AOD challenges who would like to become a family and friend representative to please get in touch with us!