Lived Impact

10/03/2026

There is a quiet scramble happening across the sector.

Are you trying to include lived experience in your work?

You might be:
• setting up advisory groups
• running consultations
• designing co-design processes
• trying to bring lived experience voices into projects

And you genuinely want to do this well.

But many people working in this space are also navigating a difficult reality.

• tight funding timelines and amounts
• organisational pressures
• expectations to demonstrate lived experience involvement to funders and stakeholders (but not necessarily meaningfully include it — let’s be honest)
• and the optics of needing to be seen to include lived experience - because the principle was created before the practice

So the work moves quickly.
Processes are created.
Participants are invited (not always with care).
Insights and experiences are shared.

But difficult questions often sit just beneath the surface.

Are participants losing motivation because they cannot see how their contributions influence decisions?
Are participants’ wellbeing, mental health and rights being cared for in the process?
Is lived experience knowledge being gathered carefully, transparently and fairly — or translated through multiple layers before decision-makers ever see it?
Are advisory groups connected to real governance pathways, or sitting beside the decisions rather than shaping them?
Are systems drawing on people’s experiences of hardship, trauma or injustice as a source of insight, while the people sharing that expertise are not always fairly compensated, credited or supported?

And once lived experience insight has been gathered…
Who actually has the authority to act on it?

Because there is an uncomfortable truth emerging in this work.
Including lived experience in a process does not automatically mean it influences the outcome.
Being present in the room is not the same as shaping what happens inside it.
Recognition alone does not determine influence.
Participation alone does not shift power.
And poorly structured lived experience engagement can damage trust in the very systems it is intended to improve.

As lived experience work continues to expand and mature across sectors, questions about power, influence and governance are becoming harder to ignore.

Part 3 of Lived Impact’s series — The Use and Misuse of Lived Experience - will be released this week. https://www.linkedin.com/company/lived-impact/

In the next part of this series I’ll introduce the Lived Impact model:
The Lived Experience Influence Ladder — where lived experience moves from participation to authority.

Developed through
Lived Impact— Lived Experience Consultancy, Advocacy, Influence & Systems Change

⬇️ Check the first comment to see how this model can help organisations navigate the tensions in lived experience work — from tokenism and optics to genuine influence and authority.

09/03/2026

The future of ethical systems change must include lived-experience leadership.
Two weeks since launching the Lived Impact LinkedIn page and we’re almost at 160 followers.

Lived Impact— Where lived experience moves from participation to influence.
What means the most is that this community is forming around a shared commitment to ethical lived-experience leadership.

Not tokenism.
Not extraction.
But genuine leadership, influence and systems change driven by lived expertise.

Thank you to everyone who has joined the journey so far.

More to come — including the Lived Impact consultation packages organisations are already utilising, across:

• Lived Experience Strategy & Systems Advisory
• Peer Workforce & Leadership Development
• Training & Capacity Building
• Guest Speaking & Thought Leadership

I’m excited to continue building this space with people who believe lived expertise should shape the systems that affect our lives. View the LinkedIn page here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lived-impact/

05/03/2026

Here is a question the sector rarely asks out loud and that Lived Impact is asking:

Why do we trust the people who design systems more than the people who have had to survive them?

Lived expertise is often quietly judged as less credible because it comes from someone who once needed support from the system. But navigating systems under pressure produces insight that no professional training can replicate.

It creates pattern recognition.
It reveals power.
It exposes where systems succeed — and where they fail.

Not despite that experience.
Because of it.

In this next article in my Lived Impact series on The Use and Misuse of Lived Experience, I explore the realities many people working in this space already understand.

Come and read Part 2 - about the power, harm and solutions intrinsic to the very nature of lived experience work — and why lived expertise is one of the most important sources of learning still under-recognised and under-utilised across the sector.

Across the sector, lived experience is increasingly visible in advisory groups, consultations and co-design processes. But visibility and authority are not the same thing.

28/02/2026

There’s a version of lived-experience engagement that looks good on paper.

But what happens when:

• advisory roles are restructured and people stay silent to survive
• social media is watched for “image management”
• only certain lived-experience voices are repeatedly platformed

I’ve been reflecting on psychological safety, power, and what ethical engagement actually demands.
Read the article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/part-1when-lived-experience-isnt-safe-name-harm-becomes-policy-sagzc

26/02/2026

Lived experience isn’t meant to be curated for comfort.
If it’s only welcomed when it’s palatable, it’s not real engagement.


Alt text: Black branded graphic featuring the quote, “If we only platform the comfortable parts of lived experience, we miss the point.” – Hayley Brown. The Lived Impact logo appears below with the words “Lived Experience Consultancy,” alongside a circular professional headshot of Hayley Brown. The website livedimpact.com is displayed at the bottom.

19/02/2026

As many of you know… I’ve been sitting with something for a while — and I promise, it’s almost ready.

I also want to acknowledge something important — I have deep gratitude for the conversations that have helped shape this series. The honesty, reflection, and trust shared by people working in lived-experience roles, alongside organisations openly discussing their attempts, challenges, concerns and wins in embedding this work, has been incredibly grounding.

These deeply honest conversations have helped shape and fuel this series. My inbox is still full of important discussions waiting to happen — thank you for your patience if you’re waiting to hear back from me. I see you, and I’ll respond as soon as I can.

Over the past few years working across lived-experience leadership, I’ve seen the full spectrum: work that is deeply ethical, trauma-informed and genuinely collaborative… and work that looks strong on paper but doesn’t always translate into safe, meaningful engagement for the people involved.

So, as I’ve been hinting at, I’m creating a new series — launching soon on the Lived Impact LinkedIn business page and here on Facebook. The launch is very close now.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lived-impact/

This won’t be recycled theory or surface-level commentary. It will be real reflections from inside the work:

• Where lived experience is actively reshaping systems — not just informing them
• Where our sector is being challenged to grow beyond traditional engagement models
• The unseen emotional and professional labour carried when participation isn’t supported by strong practice
• What courageous, accountable leadership can look like when lived experience is genuinely valued
• How we move beyond “a seat at the table” toward influence, ownership, and redistributed power

This isn’t about blame — it’s about evolution.

There are also early conversations happening behind the scenes about broader publishing opportunities for this work. This speaks to how urgently these discussions are needed.

And watch this space…

Lived Impact — Advocacy, Influence & Systems Change is preparing to officially launch its services — an expansion of the consultancy work I’ve been building for some time, grounded in ethical lived-experience practice and real systems change.

Upcoming consulting options will include:

• Policy, program and systems strategy
• Co-design and co-production
• Panel discussions and public speaking
• Training and mentoring
• Advocacy & influence
• Peer and lived-experience framework development
• Lived experience leadership and integration

If lived experience is to meaningfully shape systems, then continuing to strengthen ethical practice, partnership and shared leadership is where the sector is heading.

Head on over to the Lived Impact business page and follow to make sure you catch the series as it launches. https://www.linkedin.com/company/lived-impact/

08/02/2026

Lived Impact will be attending Australia’s Disability Strategy National Forum later this month in a lived-experience representation capacity.

I am deeply grateful for the full support of People with Disability Australia, whose financial backing makes this participation possible and meaningful.

I’m looking forward to listening, contributing, and sharing learnings with the broader community — particularly reflections relating to child protection advocacy and its intersections with lived experience of disability, mental health, domestic violence and incarceration.

This engagement reflects my ongoing commitment to ethical lived-experience leadership and systems improvement across disability, child protection and social justice spaces.

I look forward to bringing these insights back to community, practice and policy conversations, and into Lived Impact’s consultation and advocacy work. (New office space location coming soon!)

02/02/2026

There’s a particular kind of pain that comes from being invited to share your lived experience — and realising, too late, that you were never going to be protected.

It’s the pain of speaking honestly, only to feel exposed.
Of trusting the process, only to find out there wasn’t one.
Of being told your voice matters — and then watching decisions get made somewhere else.

I know that pain. Intimately.

I’ve seen what happens when people are asked to bring their trauma into rooms that aren’t built to hold it.

And I’ve witnessed the quiet aftermath — the anxiety, the self-doubt, the feeling of having given too much for too little… or worse, for nothing at all.
And the thing is — this isn’t rare. And it isn’t accidental.

Lived experience is everywhere now.
In policies. Funding applications. Job descriptions. Conference panels.
It’s become a buzzword. A brand booster.
But too often, it stops there.
Used for optics. Slipped into strategy documents. Tacked onto websites and social media posts.
Quoted, but not listened to. Visible, but not influential.
Included, but not protected.
I’ve sat in rooms where people were invited to speak — but not to decide.
Where stories were welcomed until they made people uncomfortable.
Where powerful insights were reduced to a checkbox, while the cost stayed with the person who shared them.
I’ve seen what happens when care is assumed instead of built —
When people are asked to be brave without safety, to be generous without support.

But I’ve also seen what’s possible.

I’ve been part of — and continue to collaborate on — work that is ethical, trauma-informed, well-governed, and genuinely respectful.
Where lived experience isn’t just heard, but held.
Resourced.
Partnered with power.
Treated as what it truly is: expertise.
And the difference in those spaces? It’s massive.
People feel safer. Practice improves. Systems actually change.

That contrast — between the harm that can happen, and the impact that’s possible — is what brings me to this series.

When Lived Experience is Used and Misused is a collection of reflections drawn from real-world practice.
What I’ve seen work. Where I’ve seen harm. Why good intentions aren’t enough.
And what it looks like to engage lived experience with real integrity.

Follow the series on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-brown-lived-experience-consultant/

This isn’t about blame.
It’s about responsibility — for the harm that happens when we get this wrong.
Because when we do, people get hurt — people who’ve already been carrying so much.
Voices go quiet. Trust disappears.
And the change we say we want gets pushed even further away.

This series isn’t just a nice read.
It’s a call to do better — together.
What comes next matters.
And I hope you’ll come with me.

30/01/2026

The response to my post about my upcoming series on Lived Experience - "when it is used and misused" - has stayed with me — the messages, the shared experiences, the “this resonates” conversations. The response has been phenomenal. See: http://bit.ly/4q6tVpm

It tells me this work matters to more people than we often name.

In recent weeks I have been working on a series shaped by what I’ve learned through lived-experience leadership, collaboration, and practice — and by what so many of you have reflected back to me. It is almost ready to launch.

Before it launches, I’m curious:

What would you most like to hear more about first?

1. The positives and the harms I’ve observed
2. Common mistakes I see repeated
3. Why care alone doesn’t always lead to good outcomes
4. Practical ways to engage lived experience with integrity
5. What accountability could look like when it’s done well
6. Other

Please comment with your preference! (or alternative ideas).

This series isn't about blame - it's about learning, strengthening practice, and imagining what’s possible when lived experience is held with care and intention.
Thank you for being part of this conversation — I’m looking forward to sharing what’s next.
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16/08/2025

✔️✅✔️✅✔️✅

16/06/2025

19/05/2025

Thriving on the opportunities I’m afforded to contribute to policy and program design.

Let’s go Monday.