Ms Margaret Doherty

Founder/Chairperson
Mental Health Matters 2 Ltd
Australia

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.