Steven Russell has spent over two decades championing the most vulnerable children and young people as a dual perspective speaker. Delivered with his signature authenticity and dual-perspective lens, Steven draws on themes such as 'The Power of Connection', 'The Power of One' and 'Overcoming Adversity', providing audiences with actionable strategies so they can break down barriers for children and young people in care and form stronger connections with them.
Having grown up within the care system, Steven’s story is one of resilience, empathy, and relentless determination to create meaningful change. He started out working as a forklift truck driver for a logistics company, but he was seeking a greater purpose. In 2007, he saw an advertisement for a Residential Support Worker for Archways Care, and he decided to make the phone call. Steven soon found himself supporting children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Having experienced rejection, uncertainty, and trauma throughout his childhood, Steven can put himself in a place of understanding and empathy to provide young people with the support they need.
Steven spent nine years working at Archways Care, during which time he transitioned into Senior Support Worker and Deputy Manager roles, before becoming a Family Support Specialist for Malachi Specialist Family Support Services in 2016. By 2020, he had founded Elements SEMH Support, holding the position of CEO (Care Experienced Optimist), to provide social and emotional mental health support for children and young people. This comes alongside his founding of Elements Education and Training, which spearheads pioneering initiatives that are tailored to professionals who support young people, including teachers, social workers, and residential care teams. Furthermore, Steven’s book, 'Drip by Drip, Day by Day', was published in 2025, offering a poignant exploration of his own experiences and important lessons for reshaping the future of care.
Celebrated for his innovative approaches and profound impact on those he comes into contact with, Steven has received well-deserved awards recognition, including being the winner of the Global Inclusion SEMH Award 2025. Delivering keynotes at high-profile events such as the Ofsted National Social Care Conference and the Severn Trent Water event for young people, Steven brings a unique blend of his lived experiences and professional expertise to provide an experience that will truly inspire, challenge, and empower. His signature keynote and programme model, 'The Ripple Effect', transforms how professionals work with children and young people, building on the five key ripples of anchor, growth, trust, momentum and legacy, and underpinned by the five elements of connection, including patience, presence, creativity, curiosity and authenticity. You don’t want to miss booking Steven Russell for your next event.
Books
Drip By Drip Day By Day: Finding Purpose Through The Pain
Steven Russell's official speaking topics are listed below:
- The Power of Relationships — Why genuine connection, not process or compliance, is the real engine behind performance, wellbeing, and loyalty in any team.
- Resilience: Finding Purpose Through the Pain — A raw, honest look at how we carry hardship, keep going, and turn our hardest chapters into fuel for others.
- The Ripple Effect — How small, consistent actions create extraordinary change that reaches far beyond the moment we choose to act.
- Belonging and Inclusion — What it truly takes to make people feel they belong, and why belonging is where real culture actually lives.
- Authentic Leadership — How leading as your whole self builds trust faster than any title, strategy or job description ever will.
- The Art of Building Trust — Trust is earned slowly and lost quickly; here's how to become the person others feel genuinely safe around.
- Behaviour as Communication — Every behaviour tells a story, and when we learn to read people rather than react to them, everything changes.
- The Power of One — Sometimes it only takes one person, one decision, one moment of showing up to change the entire course of a life.
- Turning Pain Into Purpose — How adversity, faced honestly, can become the very thing that shapes our greatest contribution to the world.
- Connection Before Correction — Why relationships must come before rules, and how that single shift transforms the way we lead, teach and care.
- Mindset Shift and Cultural Change — Moving teams and whole organisations from where they are to where they could be, one honest conversation at a time.
- Lived Experience as a Leadership Tool — The dual perspective in action, showing how our real stories become one of the most powerful assets we own.
- Psychological Safety at Work — How to build the kind of environment where people feel safe enough to speak up, be honest, and do their best work.
- Wellbeing at Work — Practical, human insight into protecting your people's mental health and building teams that thrive rather than just survive.
- Youth Engagement and Mentoring — What really reaches disengaged and vulnerable young people, drawn from mentoring hundreds of children others had given up on.
- Boys' and Men's Mental Health — Breaking the silence around how boys and men struggle, and creating the space and permission they need to open up.
- Trauma-Informed Practice — Understanding how trauma shapes behaviour, and how a trauma-informed approach changes outcomes across care, education and the workplace.
- Overcoming Adversity — A story of survival and hope, from a chaotic childhood in care to inspiring over 30,000 people, and what it teaches all of us.
- Diversity and Inclusion — Moving beyond diversity on paper to a culture where every person feels genuinely seen, heard and valued.
- Staff Retention and Team Culture — Why people stay when they feel connected, and how relationship-led culture keeps your best people from walking out the door.
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events:
"Steven combines personal experience with a well-thought-through approach to practice and moved, challenged, and motivated audiences in equal measure. He provokes us to challenge our own and system-level practice for the benefit of each and every child and inspired over 450 Ofsted inspectors to rethink our expectations of the provision we inspect and regulate.” - Yvette Stanley, National Director, Social Care Ofsted
“Amazing, emotional, thought-provoking, inspiring! Steven reminded me why I chose to work with children and what an honour it is knowing you have the power to influence change.” – Jo, CEO, Illuminate Minds Academy Trust
“A powerful speaker who engages and reinvigorates his audience… He connects on an emotional level and speaks with honesty from his heart.” - Jason, Head of Service, Hexagon Care Services
"Steven's story lights the fire to inspire" - Deborah Laurie
"His humility, humanity and authenticity create a real connection with the audience." - Diane Hull
- 2026 – Started master's in Child & Adolescent Psychology and Counselling at Terapia
- 2025 – Winner of Global Inclusion SEMH Award
- 2025 – Published book 'Drip By Drip Day By Day: Finding Purpose Through The Pain'
- 2020 – Founding Director & CEO of Elements SEMH Support CIC
- 2016 – Family Support Specialist at Malachi Specialist Family Support Services CIC
- 2016 – Completed Level 1, 2 and 3 Person-Centred Counselling
- 2014 – Deputy Manager at Archways Care Ltd
- 2013 – Volunteer Assistant Football Coach
- 2013 – Completed Level 5 Diploma in Young People’s Residential Care
- 2010 – Senior Support Worker at Archways Care Ltd
- 2007 – Residential Support Worker at Archways Care Ltd
How to hire Steven Russell
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Steven Russell for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do NOT accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
