We hosted a 90-minute consultation on Lived Experience Expertise (LEE) and Caregiver Expertise with Alliance members, creating space for reflection, sharing, and co-learning. The session surfaced powerful insights on integrating lived experience expertise across mental health programming. In the session opening, our founding cohort members Dr. Kavita Arora and Neha Kirpal reflected on their own lived experiences to ground the conversation, underscoring why centering Lived Experience Expertise (LEE) is essential to co-creating systems that are ethical, inclusive, and responsive. Reflections included the importance of co-design, recognition through financial remuneration and leadership roles, and moving from individual stories to systemic evidence. Organisations like Ekjut, Schizophrenia Awareness Association, Mental Health Support Foundation and Burans shared powerful, locally grounded models. Participants also flagged support needs like simplified research training, participatory methods, tech upskilling, and wellbeing budgets, and highlighted challenges around working with minors, legal frameworks, and translating lived insights into scientific evidence policy influence.