In 2003, Professor Kathy Griffiths established the Depression & Anxiety Consumer Research Unit at CMHR in order to promote greater consumer involvement in research content and practice by serving as a bridge between consumers and researchers. In 2013, ACT Health funded the establishment of ACACIA: The ACT Consumer and Carer Mental Health Research Unit to undertake research addressing the priorities and needs of ACT mental health consumers and carers and to build research capacity in the ACT mental health consumer and carer community. In 2016, the Consumer Research Unit was renamed the Lived Experience Research unit, acknowledging the active involvement of mental health consumers and carers in the research process. The Lived Experience Research Unit and ACACIA are staffed by academic researchers and students who bring their own lived experience to their work.

In 2021, the Lived Experience Research Unit partnered with The ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation, coordinated by the University of Melbourne and funded by the NHMRC Special Initiative in Mental Health. Professor Michelle Banfield is also the Co-Director and Lived Experience Research Lead of the ALIVE National Centre. The focus of ALIVE is to embed lived experience perspective into mental health research and translation.

Researchers from the Lived Experience Research Unit are also collaborating on the following projects:

• The Australian National COVID-19 mental health, behaviour and risk communication survey
• LifeTrack: Understanding Suicidal Transitions