About us

Lifeline Lived Experience Advisory Group

Lifeline Australia recognises the varied and profound ways suicide and crisis impacts the lives of many Australians. We acknowledge the inherent value of lived experience of crisis and suicidality and are committed to ensuring that this experience meaningfully informs our work and services.

Who are the Lifeline Lived Experience Advisory Group?

The Lifeline Lived Experience Advisory Group (LLEAG) was established in 2018, and provides strategic level advice on a systems-level understanding of suicide prevention, crisis support, and the needs and interests of people with lived experience, working from both personal experience and lived expertise.

This encompasses all areas of service design, implementation and evaluation of Lifeline Australia’s policy, research, advocacy, practice, marketing and fundraising.

Imbi Pyman

Since July 2018 Imbi has been a very proud member of Lifeline’s Lived Experience Advisory Group. She has three wonderful adult children, one of which suffered a life altering traumatic event that catapulted them into the mental health and legal systems. For nearly a decade now, Imbi has worked alongside her husband to passionately shed light on the difficulties and challenges their family experienced. Their intent is to improve services and give hope to others facing similar paths.

At her lowest point, which was both shocking and unexpected, Imbi reached out to Lifeline. This call, this connection, was lifesaving and brought Imbi back home safely to her family. She is forever grateful that she made that call.

In her professional capacity, Imbi works as a diversional therapist in the aged care sector. She is currently a member of the National Suicide Prevention Office LEPG, a Roses in the Ocean ambassador, has served in an advisory role for Mental Health Victoria and is helping her husband write a book about their journey.

Her appreciation for the services Lifeline provides and her passion to champion the work they do, is always front and centre and Imbi’s message is that, as humans, we are all vulnerable and Lifeline gives hope when it is hard to find.

Graeme Holdsworth

Graeme was an Architect with a career as a Project Director for major building projects throughout Australia. He retired due to depression, which saw him lose his career, marriage, and nearly his life through a suicide attempt. Since his recovery, he has used his lived experience working for suicide prevention. He was on the Expert Advisory Group to the National Suicide Prevention Adviser to the Prime Minister. Currently, he is a member of the Victorian Government Suicide Prevention and Response Expert Advisory Committee and the Commonwealth Government National Suicide Prevention Office Advisory Board and the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Senior Officials Group. Within suicide prevention, he is on Suicide Prevention Australia’s Board, Policy Committee, and their Victoria and Tasmania joint State Committee.

Hayley Purdon

Hayley is systems advocate for those who experience suicide. She uses her lived experience of thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts to create change in the way that people with lived experience of suicide are included in the suicide prevention sector. She is the Founder of CriticLE, an organisation working to deepen our understanding of lived experience of suicide involvement, and is completing a PhD that examines how things have been and are currently done in this space in order to better drive our strategic direction. She also works with a number of national organisations and networks as an advisor and her main employment is as a senior technical officer in the Australian Public Service. Hayley has qualifications in psychology, suicidology, applied data analytics and human factors (aviation).

Mark Richards

Mark, a proud Wiradjuri man and devoted father, is a qualified Trainer and Assessor with significant expertise in planning and delivering cultural awareness, Domestic and family violence, workplace resilience, and suicide prevention programs.

From an early age Mark has lived through experiences of depression, anxiety, and suicide. Today, as the owner of Collective Consults, Mark draws from both his professional and lived and living experience to delivers training and education programs in over 160 locations across the country, covering all states and territories upskilling over 4000 frontline service workers.

He also is a member of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre, and the Lifeline Lived Experience Advisory Group.

Dave Peters

Dave is based in Melbourne and has a range of jobs from guest speaking at Monash University, Melbourne University, Australian Catholic University and Swinburne University, talking to various allied health students about my experience of mental health and recovery, as well as running several workshops designed to increase awareness, normalise and encourage help seeking behaviour. Dave’s primary work is now as a research assistant at the Brotherhood of St Laurence working on a massive evaluation of the NDIS planning pathways and participant experiences.