Emma Roberts is an independent consultant with Awen Consulting Services and a recognized leader in harm reduction, trauma informed care, workforce development, and organizational capacity building. With more than 30 years of experience across community development, social care, and public health, Emma has worked extensively with organizations seeking to strengthen compassionate, person-centered responses for people who use drugs and individuals impacted by trauma.
Emma’s journey in harm reduction began in the mid-1990s in Leeds, UK, when the community center where she worked launched a syringe exchange program. In 2008, she moved to New York City for what was intended to be a one-year sabbatical and remained after being invited to lead a citywide mobile syringe service program alongside integrated medical and dental services. This experience further strengthened her expertise in service delivery, systems leadership, and community-based care.
Prior to her consultancy work, Emma served for nearly a decade as Director of National Capacity Building at the National Harm Reduction Coalition in the United States, where she played a key leadership role in shaping national training initiatives, supporting service innovation, and advancing trauma-informed and harm reduction practices across diverse health and social care settings. Her work has included designing and delivering training and technical assistance to frontline staff, leadership teams, and multidisciplinary organizations throughout the US, UK, and beyond.
Today, Emma partners with organizations across the care continuum to support the implementation of trauma-informed approaches, workforce resilience strategies, and sustainable models of care grounded in dignity, equity, and harm reduction philosophy. A particular focus of her current work is helping organizations intentionally address staff wellbeing, secondary trauma, and burnout prevention to build healthier and more resilient teams.
In addition to her consultancy and training work, Emma is a guest lecturer at universities including University of Leeds, Columbia University, and New York University, where she shares practice-based expertise on trauma-informed care, harm reduction, public health, and organizational change.
Emma is a mum (both human and dog) and her super power is making connections, whether that’s people, concepts or dance steps. This includes being part of a music collective called Sankofa Soul that hosts AfroSoul music festivals and events in the US, Caribbean and Africa.
