Elena Whitham

Elena is the Service Development Lead for Women and Families at River Garden residential rehab and therapeutic recovery community in Ayrshire. She was formerly MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley. Before being elected to the Scottish Parliament, she served as Depute Leader of East Ayrshire Council and COSLA’s Community Wellbeing Spokesperson, where she led work on national housing strategy. Elena is a former Minister for Drug and Alcohol Policy and Minister for Community Safety. She brings nearly 20 years’ frontline experience of homelessness in both the statutory and third sectors – as well as personal insight into what it means to not have a home.