Emma Baars MSW FRGS is a registered Social Worker and former charity CEO with a professional background rooted in inclusive outdoor adventure, adventure-based therapeutic approaches, nature connection and the arts. Emma has over twenty years’ experience in the charitable sector, working with disabled people, carers and other marginalised communities.
Emma has witnessed the power of individuals and communities to take action on the issues which matter to them. Co-enabling social and environmental action through inclusive and empowering participatory approaches is her passion.
Emma spent nine years working with armed forces charity SSAFA delivering adventure residentials for children with additional needs and disabilities in partnership with The Calvert Trust. She worked with Army, Navy and RAF families affected by military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, developing adventure-based therapeutic services. This work earned national recognition, including an award for Innovative Practice at the Social Worker of the Year Awards.
Emma is director of The House Outside, a not-for-profit organisation which promotes engagement with the natural world as a way to understand ourselves and find belonging. Through traditional outdoor skills, exploration and creative expression, The House Outside fosters personal, community and environmental resilience and takes action on social and environmental issues.
Emma spends a lot of time on the road with her partner, writer Damian Le Bas, and their two daughters, seeing the world, meeting other communities and teaching their daughters the art of exploration and the power of storytelling to create change. Emma is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
