Emma Pears
Founder and CEO of SELFA Children's Charity, based in Skipton. She is well known for her tireless work to ensure that children and young people in rural communities get access to the mental health services they need.
Emma is the Founder and CEO of SELFA Children’s Charity based in North Yorkshire, an organisation which supports over 500 children every year.
Over the last two decades she has campaigned on a range of issues including access to services for families living in rural communities and children and young people’s mental health. This is deeply rooted in her own experience as a parent of a child with mental health support needs and emotionally based school avoidance.
Originally from Belfast, Emma is a qualified life coach, a West Yorkshire Health Equity Fellow and a speaker on a wide range of lived experience leadership topics including imposter syndrome and systems leadership.
"As a spokesperson, I want to make sure that parents and carers are 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.