Elisabeth Stevenson has been exposed to the impact of mental illness on family life from early childhood, having had an aunt with a chronic mental illness and a sister who has lived with the same illness for the past 40 years. Having studied law as a mature aged student, Ms Stevenson has an LLB (Hons) and has been practicing primarily in administrative law for the past 15 years. Prior to studying law, she was a senior investigator for the State Ombudsman and held a variety of management roles in local government.