For 29 years, Tracy Pike has been one of the people keeping Carmarthenshire’s children safe. Now she’s calling time.
The chief executive of Llanelli charity CYCA is retiring — closing a career her own trustees say has touched “thousands of children and families.”
Tracy joined CYCA in 1997 to run its learning clubs, when it was little more than a small local play centre. She took over as chief executive in 2001, and never left.
Over almost 25 years at the top, she turned it into something far bigger — a wellbeing charity known across the county for getting help to struggling children and families before problems spiral.
She had been thinking about retiring for months, the charity said, and with family in mind decided now was the time.
Tracy came to the job the hard way. She started out as a teacher responsible for pastoral care, then set up her own stress management company, training staff across health boards, schools and public bodies.
She also built the first “Stress Management on Prescription” project for Hywel Dda — years before “social prescribing” became a buzzword in the NHS.
At CYCA she made that idea her life’s work. The charity’s social prescribing model — getting children mental health support early, before crisis point — is the legacy staff say she’ll be remembered for.
She also spent those years quietly building the team who’ll carry it on, bringing people up, handing down what she knew.
The recognition came in 2018, when Tracy was awarded an MBE for 40 years of service to children and families.
Her trustees, past and present, did not hold back in their tribute.
“Your legacy of keeping children safe will live on in this charity for generations,” they said. “Because of your dedication and compassion, thousands of children and families have received support, protection and hope.”
“You have been a constant source of strength, wisdom and care.”
They thanked her “for every hour, every decision, every safeguarding action, every moment of care and every young life you helped change.”
CYCA says it now looks to its next chapter — but on foundations Tracy spent nearly 30 years laying.
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