Emma Pears
Founder and CEO of SELFA Children's Charity, based in Skipton. She helped to set up SELFA after identifying a gap in provision for children and young people in Craven over 15 years ago.
Emma is the Founder and CEO of SELFA Children’s Charity, based in Skipton. She helped to set up SELFA after identifying a gap in provision for children and young people in Craven over 15 years ago. The charity supports over 450 children and young people through their activities and programmes each year. She has extensive experience across the public and third sector, having previously worked for Yorkshire Forward and the national charity Mencap. She qualified as a Parent Wellbeing Coach in 2018 and subsequently developed a family programme for SELFA so she could pass on all that she’s learnt and achieved, as well as create a network of parents like her. Over the years Emma has become well-known for her campaigning on children and young people’s mental health in rural communities. She has two teenage children: Hannah and Aidan.
"I applied to the programme because I want to be part of the conversation when it comes to children and young people’s mental health"
In the Media
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Emma Pears and the SELFA Youth Council were interviewed by BBC Radio York about supporting children’s mental health in rural areas.
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Emma Pears wrote ‘Calling for a better way of funding our small grass-roots charities’ for Charity Times.
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Emma Pears was interviewed by BBC Leeds about her report looking at mental health support for children.
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Emma Pears was interviewed in the Yorkshire Post about her report finding that there is no mental health support close to home for children in rural areas
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Emma Pears wrote ‘Why early intervention is vital for children’s mental health’ for Children and Young People Now.