“This work sits at the intersection of lived experience, frontline practice and fragmented systems — where too often people are known to services, but are not truly supported.”

It starts with you......looks at how transforming social work, engages with organisations, systems and people experiencing multiple exclusion and disadvantage.

Integrating education, storytelling, and systems consultancy to close the equity gap and foster lasting change.

Grip, delivery and change

Ellies purpose is to work where systems struggle most and excuses are easiest. Ellie turns moral intent into delivery and delivery into sustained change. She specialises in severe multiple exclusion, disadvantage, health inequality, adult social care, and safeguarding systems that repeatedly fail the same people, in the same ways.

Ellies offer is simple: grip the problem, follow it through, and be accountable for outcomes.

Strengthening and defining social work in ending multiple exclusion and disadvantage.

A key innovation associated with 'It starts with you' ....

Is the idea of strengthening the social work profession working with people experiencing multiple exclusion, disadvantage and inequality-trauma informed care.

Ellie supports organisations and systems to recognise, for example, that many people who remain homeless for years often have unmet social care needs, falling through gaps in systems and services.

Standard housing responses cannot address this alone.

Who benefits from this approach?

Ellie’s work is grounded in a commitment to equity, dignity and social justice.

Her approach focuses on closing the equity gap by recognising and responding to unmet care and support needs, while creating conditions in which people can thrive, not simply survive. Central to this is a belief that people who experience multiple exclusion and disadvantage must be seen, heard and valued as experts in their own lives, with meaningful opportunities to influence practice, policy and service design.

Ellie’s approach is designed for social workers, organisations and policymakers committed to transforming responses to issues such as homelessness, addiction, self neglect and cycler institutionalisation, through relationship-based, trauma-informed and rights-focused practice.

Ellie is leading a growing movement that redefines homelessness not simply as a housing issue, but as a complex intersection of social care, trauma and structural inequality, requiring specialist social work leadership and systemic change.

This work is brought to life through the National Peer Network for Social Workers Specialising in Homelessness, which creates a platform for solidarity, shared learning and collective influence. The network connects frontline practitioners, amplifies lived and practice experience, and feeds directly into national policy and research discussions.

Through this work, Ellie contributes to key national conversations, including:

recognising homelessness within adult safeguarding frameworks
strengthening the use of the Care Act in responses to rough sleeping
developing trauma-informed and relational systems
highlighting the impact of hidden disabilities and executive functioning differences

At its core, this work seeks to ensure that people experiencing multiple exclusion, disadvantage and health inequality are not positioned at the margins of systems, but are placed at the centre of care, policy and practice.

Ellie is the Chair of the National Peer Network for Homelessness Social Work in England

The spirit of this Network is a ‘place of belonging’ for us, as social workers across England specialising in the field of homelessness and rough sleeping. We have an exciting opportunity to pool our knowledge and resources and support a national movement for change. We advocate for the right care and support for many misunderstood people in our society, based on our intrinsic motivation to promote human rights, social justice and the self determination of the people we serve.

Over the last few years, key documents have had impact on our practice. ADASS and the Local Government Association (LGA) published ‘Care and support and homelessness: Top tips on the role of adult social care’. There is extensive learning from the harrowing narratives of lives lost, captured in national analysis of homeless thematic reviews and/or SARS. The evidence base is fundamental to our journey as emerging experts in this field.

Bridging Boundaries: International Perspectives on Social Services

European Social Services Conference 2026

People experiencing homelessness face support systems that are not always able to respond effectively to their complex and long-term needs. This session focuses on how social services can strengthen the effectiveness of homelessness responses, leading to more consistent and meaningful outcomes.

Participants will learn from two different, but complementary approaches developed in Malta and England. Malta’s Building Bridges model shows how harmonising referral and assessment processes across NGOs and public services can improve coordination, reduce duplication, and ensure fairer and faster access to support. King’s College London will present research on homelessness social work in England, and the National Peer Network for Homelessness Social Work will share effective trauma-informed approaches that include close collaboration with other services and building trust with people who have particularly complex needs.

Together, these cases highlight practical ways to improve how homelessness services function, showing how better coordination and specialist professional roles can lead to more effective, humane, and person-centred responses.

Presenters:

Jess Harris, Senior Research Fellow, Health & Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London, United Kingdom
Ellie Atkins, Chair of the National Peer Network for Social Work in Homelessness, United Kingdom