Presenters
Margaret Doherty is the Founder/Chairperson of Mental Health Matters 2 Limited (MHM2), a lived experience-led charity based in Perth, WA. Margaret applies her Lived Experience expertise as a family member of an adult with mental health, alcohol and other drug (AOD) challenges and imprisonment, in a number of strategic roles to achieve positive, effective systems change with and for individuals and families with similar experiences.
Margaret holds leadership roles on a number of state and national strategic committees. She is dedicated to the implementation of sustainable Lived Experience (Peer) Workforces to embed Lived Experience expertise in a range of roles, settings and specialisations in areas such as research, education, direct support and leadership. Margaret was a 2023 Mentor for the Yale University’s Lived Experience Transformational Leadership Academy delivered to family and carer leaders in mental health in Australia. She is the Chairperson of the independent WA Mental Health Advisory Council and Lived Experience Co-Chair of the WA Lived Experience (Peer) Framework Steering Committee.
Margaret has also led systemic advocacy activities which have resulted in the updated WA Criminal Law (Mental Impairment) Bill 2022 and implementation of the Start Court, a diversionary mental health court program at Perth Magistrates Court.
Margaret is a self-employed Independent Lived Experience consultant and sessional academic at Curtin University. She was an Investigator on the 2021/22 National Forensic Mental Health Principles project in which MHM2 led the national lived experience engagement and is the Family/Carer representation on the WA Mental Health Research Strategy Implementation Committee.
Louise Southalan is a lawyer with a background in health and justice policy, and in research. She is a board member of Mental Health Matters 2 Ltd, a lived experience led charity working to embed Lived Experience expertise and the Lived Experience (Peer) workforce at all levels of the justice, mental health and alcohol and other drugs systems and services. She is employed by Wungening Aboriginal Corporation in their research and evaluation team, and at Curtin University as a research associate in the Justice Health Group. Her work with Wungening is focused on ensuring that research which Wungening leads or partners in is carried in out ways which put the voices and perspectives of Aboriginal people at the centre and value Aboriginal expertise and experience. At Curtin her roles have included establishing the Justice Health Group’s Community and Lived Experience Advisory Group, as well as supporting a range of research projects. Louise has Masters degrees in International and Community Development and in Mental Health Policy and Services. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and completed a Churchill Fellowship examining national initiatives to support state-based prison mental health services. Louise is a steering committee member of the Worldwide Prison Health Research and Engagement Network and a Technical Adviser to the WHO Health in Prisons Program. She has worked in senior roles within the WA Mental Health Commission and the WA Department of Justice on policy and service reforms in the justice/mental health/AOD systems.
