And then there's Dr Gregory Peel Smith.

Emerging from dense forestry in Mullumbimby after a decade of homelessness, the man weighed 41.5 kilograms at the age of 45 and required a walking stick for mobility.

He exited with years of unresolved childhood trauma and a raging drug and alcohol addiction; riddled with complex mental health struggles.

Literally rising up from the gutter, he'd eventually make his life's most important decision and end up in Orange in 2019.

But it was an epiphany on a park bench that triggered it all.

"I was just a sick unit by the end of it and I needed to make peace with myself," Dr Smith said.

"I realised I was my own worst enemy, I'd been fighting myself all my life, and what I found inside of me was a very damaged little boy who'd never been parented. I was traumatised."

He had a physically violent upbringing in Tamworth, attended a tormenting orphanage, was essentially labelled brainless at school, and had run-ins with authorities; linked to juvenile detention sentences.

Dr Smith had all the makings of a failed system behind him to warrant a bleak future, if one at all.

Today, at age 68, he holds a PhD and is an online lecture of Social Science with Southern Cross University.

Though, and perhaps his greatest formal title to date, he's now officially on the royal radar.

Making The King's Birthday Honours List for 2023, he's received a Medal of the Order of Australia - honouring his service to the community through social welfare organisations.

"I was pretty stunned, actually. It did come as a massive, very humbling surprise," he said.

"When you spend most of your life homeless, you don't have many expectations. I spent half my life in the gutter and then I managed to get up and get what I've done, done.

"When you start to kick a few goals and put things together and things start to happen, you're very grateful and appreciative of where you're at."

He's the patron of a multitude of homelessness services, a national ambassador for those without shelter, and an expert on the board of directors for the government's End Street Sleeping Collaboration.

Because while it's one thing to hear stories about "what a tough life's about", Dr Smith said it's a whole other playing field to be in those very shoes yourself.

It's (understandably) why his area of speciality is also 'lived expertise' - where he says there's no better evidence or way to show support than from those who've been there themselves.

"When you've actually lived that and experienced that or you've been on the ground and you know what it's all about, then you can step up and above that," he said.

"And that's the magic of it, [because] the magic of life is about sharing our stories and doing that in a way that's beneficial to each other. They're the gifts of life."

Which are plentiful now for Dr Smith, who will soon release his second book and memoir, Beyond Happiness.

He also fathers a 10-month old baby , William, with a "highly intelligent and very capable" partner - who he said keeps him on his toes.

"Romance brought me to Orange," he said, "because behind every good story, there's always a good romance."

As for the newest OAM title, he hopes his contribution and advocacy continue to connect he, and those around him.

Most of all, his wish is that it helps others to better understand.

"Hopefully it will provide some noise and conversation where these are needed to be had in relation to how to better understand the issues around homelessness," he said.

"Homelessness is a simple word, but what we really don't have is a lot of information around what actually causes it, because it's merely a symptom of things like domestic violence, mental health, drug and alcohol issues, trauma, loneliness an inability of self-confidence.

"In a complicated world, and one that's getting more complicated all the time, I just try to keep it in the now. I just do the next right thing."

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