Management Committee Members

Chairperson: Lisa Gott (she/her)

Lisa Gott is a dedicated Lived Experience leader with over 14 years of expertise in Lived Experience Workforce development, systemic advocacy, and co-design within the mental health, alcohol and other drugs sector. As Chairperson of QLEWN, Lisa brings a strategic and collaborative approach to advancing the Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce across Queensland.

Her leadership is grounded in a strong commitment to human rights, inclusion, co-production, and amplifying the collective voices of those with Lived Experience. She plays a key role in shaping sector-wide policy, strengthening workforce capabilities, and ensuring Lived Experience is embedded at all levels of service planning, design, and delivery.

With a professional background spanning executive leadership, Lived Experience Workforce development, training, and peer supervision, Lisa has been instrumental in shaping Lived Experience Workforce strategy, enhancing Lived Experience engagement models, and driving meaningful systems change. She is a leader, speaker, facilitator, coach, and consultant, with a deep passion for mental health advocacy, equity, recovery-oriented practices, and fostering safe and effective peer workforces.

Lisa’s work with QLEWN builds upon her extensive experience as a Lived Experience leader, where she has led the integration of Lived Experience perspectives within mental health systems. Her contributions have helped shape state and national frameworks for Lived Experience Workforce development, ensuring peer workers receive the support, recognition, and opportunities needed to thrive.

Through her role at QLEWN, Lisa will continue to champion a future where the Lived Experience Workforce is not only valued but recognised as a driving force in creating more inclusive, responsive, and recovery-oriented mental health systems across Queensland.

Vice Chairperson: Ms Martina McGrath (she/her)

Qualifications

Bachelor of Teaching (Children’s education)

Bachelor of Education (Adult education)

Martina McGrath is a Lived Experience researcher and recognised leader within the Lived Experience workforce. Her work is grounded in advocating for human rights, social justice, social equity, and intersectionality, with a particular focus on how systems and structures marginalise and oppress some groups of people. These values inform her contributions across strategy, policy, training, research, and evaluation, driving progress in workplace mental health, suicide prevention, and LGBTQA+ wellbeing, and helping to strengthen and support the Lived Experience workforce in Australia.

Martina is completing a PhD at the Centre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing at the University of Melbourne. Her project explores suicidal distress and disclosure in workplaces. The project seeks to understand the barriers and enablers to employees disclosing suicidal distress and promote earlier help-seeking and help-offering in workplaces. Her final project culminates in the development of best practice guidelines for workplaces to support employees experiencing suicidal distress or crisis while at work.

With more than a decade in the Lived Experience workforce, Martina has held senior leadership roles at state and national levels. She brings a broad professional foundation to QLEWN — beginning her career in education, serving in the Australian Defence Force’s Army as an officer and Training Programs Manager, and later holding senior leadership roles in occupational health and safety and human resource management across the public and private sectors.

Treasurer: Charmaine Curtain  

Director, Mental Health Training | The Luminate Team

Charmaine brings over 35 years of experience spanning the Australian not-for-profit, government, and corporate sectors. With a strong foundation in finance, she has held senior roles including Company Director and Senior Financial Planner at private wealth management consultancy firms, as well as a Senior Advisory position at Deutsche Bank Australia. Her career is underpinned by a strong foundation in finance, where she developed deep expertise in financial planning, strategic advisory, and executive leadership. Since retiring from the financial sector, Charmaine has continued to lend her expertise to a variety of causes, contributing her time and insight, particularly within the not-for-profit sector.

Charmaine has redirected her professional focus toward her passion for mental health. Drawing on her lived experience as a Carer, she has become a powerful advocate and educator in the mental health space. This personal journey forms the foundation of her work, enabling her to connect authentically and empathetically with individuals facing various life challenges and transitions.

As Director of Mental Health Training at The Luminate Team, Charmaine is part of a team of experts dedicated to human thriving. Luminate delivers tailored experiences that help individuals and teams build emotional resilience, wellness, and the confidence to pursue personal and professional goals.

Charmaine has also provided vital support to families and carers through her work at The Alfred Women’s Recovery Network and Peninsula Health Mental Health Services, collaborating with clinical and allied health professionals to improve outcomes for carers of people living with mental illness.

Her philosophy is grounded in hope—believing that mental illness never occurs in isolation, and that healing and recovery are deeply relational journeys.

Key Areas of Focus & Advocacy:

• Advisory Board Member, Mental Health Victoria
• Board Member, To Be Loved Charity – Advocating for children’s voices through divorce and reducing trauma
• Instructor, Mental Health First Aid Australia
• Volunteer, Kids First Australia – Mentoring children at risk
• Volunteer, Disaster Recovery Australia
• Ongoing Advocacy for equitable, person-centred health services across Australia

Secretary: Michael Mawson

Michael has held several roles within mental health Peer work. After completing his Cert IV, he began working with Queensland Health at the Caboolture Hospital before joining Mind Australia in their Youth Step Up Step Down service where he continues to work on a casual basis. He was a student mentor at TAFE East Coast as employed in the Peer Work Student Mentoring Project. In 2023, after completing further study, Michael began delivering the Cert IV in Mental Health Peer Work at TAFE Queensland’s South Bank and Caboolture campuses. Michael is passionate about training and upskilling the mental health Peer workorce and is a strong advocate for Lived Experience student workforce participation. 

Katrina Baxter

Kat has worked in Lived Experience education with the state government for eight years. She brings advocacy, innovation, and critical thinking skills to QLEWN and looks for strategic ways community and government can collaborate together as one united Lived Experience workforce. With new and emerging ways of training and educating in this sector, she intends to challenge what we think we know to continually improve and grow as a workforce.

Matthew Tulle

Matt is deeply passionate about using his lived experience to create systems that truly listen, include, and empower people. Having personally faced barriers within the mental health and social service sectors, he is driven to turn those challenges into advocacy and positive change. As both a social worker and someone with lived experience, he brings empathy, insight, and a strong belief in the power of recovery and connection. He wants to ensure that every voice, especially those often unheard, has a place in shaping the services that support them.

Byron Wallace

Byron became a proud QLEWN member in 2019 as part of the first cohort of identified Lived Experience staff employed by an NGO. He believes that Lived Experience workers need structured, whole-of-workforce support. He has worked in various roles, including leadership at a public mental health service with 40 identified staff, giving him insight into workforce challenges and opportunities. He believes a collective voice is needed to advocate for consistent standards of support for identified Lived Experience roles. Living and working on the Gold Coast, Byron brings regional representation to the Management Committee.