LEx is an adopted credential used to identify those who are Lived Experts—individuals whose personal experiences navigating systems such as child welfare, homelessness, behavioral health, education, poverty, substance use, and disability services give them unique insight into how those systems function in real life.

SME is an acronym for Subject Matter Expert, a designation typically used for professionals whose expertise comes from academic, technical, or career-based experience. In traditional systems, SMEs hold authority through institutional pathways such as education, certification, or long-term service positions. At LEx Advocacy, both types of expertise matter but Lived Expertise bridges the gap that traditional SME structures often miss.

 

To further clarify these roles within our framework:

LEC — Lived Experience Consultant

A person who provides consulting, policy feedback, or advisory services based on direct lived experience within a particular system. LECs bring insight that cannot be obtained through training alone.

LExC — Lived Expert Consultant

A more formal designation for individuals with advanced engagement, leadership, or advocacy experience who serve in professional roles shaping programs, policy, and organizational culture.

LExA — Lived Expert Advocate

A title used within LEx Advocacy to describe members of the consulting team who use lived experience as the foundation of their advocacy and reform work. LExA team members hold equal standing with traditional SMEs

Other Acronyms & Terms

TI / TIC — Trauma-Informed / Trauma-Informed Care
A framework that recognizes the widespread impact of trauma and ensures that policies, practices, and interactions avoid re-traumatizing individuals.

DEI / DEIB — Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Guiding principles in shaping equitable systems and environments. At LExA, we prioritize anti-oppressive and culturally responsive practices informed by lived experience.

SOC — Systems of Care
A coordinated network of community-based services designed to meet the needs of children, youth, adults, and families. LExA works extensively to reform SOC structures so they align with real community needs.

PEER / Peer Specialist
Someone who uses their lived experience with recovery, mental health, or substance use to support others. LExA collaborates with peer networks and integrates peer-led models into policy recommendations.

QI — Quality Improvement
A systems approach used in evaluating programs or processes. LExA integrates lived-experience evaluation into QI efforts, ensuring “quality” reflects real human outcomes.

CE — Community Engagement
The process of involving people directly affected by systems in shaping decisions, programs, and policies. LExA’s CE approach is grounded in dignity, partnership, and accessibility.

IPP — Integrated Practice & Policy
A term used to describe LExA’s philosophy: aligning practice, policy, and lived experience so systems change is not theoretical but actionable.

 

At LEx Advocacy, we believe lived experience is professional expertise.
The LEx credential is not symbolic — it is structural. It reshapes who is recognized as a leader, who designs our systems, and whose insight we trust when making decisions that affect our most vulnerable communities.

By placing LEx and SME expertise side-by-side, LEx Advocacy builds a model where people are both the storytellers and the architects of the systems meant to serve them.