About Us
SELFA is a children’s charity based in Skipton, North Yorkshire. We support young people and families who are experiencing vulnerabilities to build resilience, thrive and achieve.
We support more than 600 children, young people and their parents every year.
Our Registered Charity Number: 1124020.
Our Vision & mission
Create a community where all children and young people are celebrated and know they belong.
Our mission is to support families experiencing vulnerabilities and to build resilience, thrive and achieve.
Our values
Children must experience happiness
Believe in themselves
Have hope for the future
Our services
We provide:
Health & wellbeing programmes
Holiday activities & day trips
Peer support groups
Mental Health support
Our objectives
We aim to: Encourage children to be independent
Give young people a sense of belonging
Help children build self-esteem & resilience
Improve wellbeing & promote aspirations
Support the forming of positive relationships
Our History
Emma Pears, SELFA’s chief officer
“In 2007, I helped to set up SELFA while working as the Extended Schools Co-ordinator for North Yorkshire County Council.
“We could see a clear gap in provision for children and young people with lived experience of adversity in Craven. With the support of the Skipton Extended Schools Cluster, and alongside an incredibly dedicated team, SELFA was created to respond to that need.
“Since then, SELFA has grown into a well-loved local children’s charity, now supporting over 600 children and young people every year.
“Although our work has expanded, our roots remain firmly in the community we serve, and none of this would have been possible without the staff, volunteers and supporters who have walked this journey with us.
“Being so deeply connected to this area for two decades, I’ve long been conscious of the disparity in mental health care children and young people in rural communities receive compared to those in urban areas.
“That awareness is also personal. When my daughter was eight years old, she began to show signs of emotional distress, both at school and at home. She’s now an adult and thriving, and her mental health is good because of the support she’s had over the years. Her journey has taught me something important: children’s emotional well-being is just as vital as their physical health.
“Children need to feel safe and supported within their local communities, and they should be given every chance to achieve their full potential. That belief has been at the heart of SELFA since the very beginning — and it continues to guide everything we do today.”