Michael Elwan

Michael Elwan is a therapist, social worker and mental health advocate based in Australia who has spent more than 15 years supporting people through grief, trauma, identity challenges and life transitions.

He brings professional training and personal lived experience to his work. As a young carer for his father and later a suicide-bereaved son, Michael learned what it feels like to be overlooked and overwhelmed - experiences that continue to shape the way he listens and holds space for others with empathy and care.

Michael is an Accredited Social Worker (AASW) with cross-sector experience across mental health, suicide prevention, disability and community services. He founded and directs Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs), an independent practice focused on embedding lived experience, cultural humility and human dignity into therapy, social work and peer supervision, training, consultancy and system transformation.

In 2025 Michael received the WA Mental Health Award - Lived Experience Impact & Inspiration, sponsored by the Mental Health Commission, recognising his contribution to culturally responsive, lived-experience-led practice and policy change. Later that year he was awarded the 2025 AASW National Excellence Award (Social Worker of the Year) and was a finalist for the Sir Ronald Wilson Leadership Award and the Barbara Hocking Memorial Award.

He also works as a public speaker, advisor and consultant, holding national and state leadership roles that help shape policy, governance and research translation. Michael’s professional focus is consistent - building systems that hold people, not harm them - and that principle guides every session he holds with clients.