Episode #208. Welcome 2026. From Crisis to Care: Seeing humanity in mental health prevention and treatment, Professor Sharon Lawn, Executive Director Lived Experience Australia

The podcast episode featured a conversation with Professor Sharon Lawn about mental health systems, lived experience, and the importance of humanising care for individuals with mental health challenges. 

We discuss the need for more person-centered, compassionate approaches in mental health services and the value of incorporating lived experience perspectives into research, policy, and practice. The conversation emphasized the significance of community support, everyday acts of kindness, and treating individuals with dignity beyond their diagnoses to transform mental health care systems.

Sharon covered several key topics:

Personal and Professional Background

• Sharon's journey shaped by rural upbringing, family openness about mental health, and early career experiences working with veterans at a psychiatric hospital
• Her observational approach to understanding mental health systems and power dynamics

Lived Experience in Mental Health

• Definition and importance of lived experience work in valuing individuals' perspectives
• How to intentionally use lived experience to create understanding and humanize mental health services
• Challenges of incorporating lived experience safely and effectively in professional contexts

Dehumanisation and Systemic Issues

• The contrast between seeing people as humans versus focusing solely on diagnoses and symptoms
• Problems with impersonal language, labeling, and assumptions in mental health care
• How systems deflect responsibility by labeling patients as "non-compliant" or "too complex"

Transforming Mental Health Services

• The need for services to reach people in their own spaces rather than requiring them to seek help
• Importance of person-centered, proactive approaches versus crisis-driven systems
• Value of both formal and informal support systems, including community organizations

Humanisation and Connection

• Practical ways to show compassion through everyday acts like using people's names, bringing flowers to hospital visits
• The significance of small human connections and being seen
• Building community through simple gestures of kindness and acknowledgment

Based on the meeting discussion, Sharon Lawn recommends several specific changes for mental health systems:

Shift from Crisis-Driven to Proactive Care

• Services should reach out to people in their own spaces rather than requiring them to seek help
• Move away from reactive, crisis-driven approaches to more accessible, preventive care

Humanise and Personalise Services

• Use people's names and treat them with dignity and respect
• See individuals beyond their labels and diagnoses, recognizing their strengths and skills
• Stop using impersonal language and dehumanizing practices

Incorporate Lived Experience

• Increase representation of people with lived experience in the workforce
• Value and integrate lived experience perspectives into research, policy, and practice at every level
• Create safe spaces for people to share their experiences without reducing them to mere "performances"

Respect Autonomy and Rights

• Recognize individuals' autonomy and human rights in treatment settings
• Stop deflecting responsibility by labeling patients as "non-compliant" or "too complex"

Integrate Formal and Informal Support

• Recognize the value of both professional services and community-based organizations run by people with lived experience