Vision, Mission & Impact
Our Vision
A world where both the causes and consequences of multiple disadvantages are understood, effectively tackled, and ultimately eliminated.
Our Mission
We will be a centre of excellence bringing belief, hope and long term recovery to lives affected by substance use and multiple unmet needs.
Our Impact
In 2024 our Women’s Community Services helped over 4,600 women access treatment throughout the South West and Wales, and delivered over 34,083 face-to-face
and 5,845 group interventions, working with women holistically to address a wide range of needs. Our Treatment and Residential Services also received 292 requests, we
welcomed 73% of people we assessed and ended with a
90.2% and 93% bed occupancy in all our houses.
Centre of Excellence
Circle2Success Business Awards: Award Finalists - 2024
The Nelson Trust was announced as finalists at the prestigious Circle2Success Business Awards in Gloucester, for exceptional contributions to the community.
Training and Development
In 2024, we delivered 70 courses and
presentations to external agencies, reaching over 1,000 people across national services, including Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, voluntary care sector, and
the NHS.
Two New Centres in Wales
In 2024, we were thrilled to open a new Women’s Centre in the heart of Newport. The centre features a private kitchen for our lunch clubs and a welcoming crèche for women’s families and children while they attend appointments.
Additionally, we launched a brand-new Mini Hub in Carmarthenshire as part of our One Wales partnership, extending our support services to women across rural Wales.
Gold at The Career Matters Lived Experience Charter
In the later part of 2024, we were honoured to be awarded gold at the Career Matters Lived Experience Charter as recognition for our commitment to supporting individuals with lived experience, to build a career they might never have thought possible.
Our Impact
Trauma Informed Approach
Our trauma-informed approach to recovery is the golden thread that underpins all of our work here at The Nelson Trust. This is a place that clients can build trust, develop choices, work closely with others, and ultimately make their own decisions. We support our clients with compassion and sensitivity.
We have continually developed our trauma informed services utilising the principles of choice, empowerment, trust, collaboration and safety to support our clients to break free from trauma and substance use and work towards fulfilling their potential.
In 2017, we introduced our Becoming Trauma Informed Guide Team who champion the principles and ensure all our services, staff, and volunteers have the tools they need to become trauma responsive.
Gender Responsive Treatment
Our gender-responsive treatment builds on the work of Stephanie S. Covington, Ph.D, L.C.S.W. Evidence shows that men and women who enter gender-specific alcohol and substance use treatment programmes tend to stay in treatment longer and have better outcomes than those who don’t.
When we create treatment plans for our clients we take into account how their gender impacts their experiences:
- Men and women may develop addictions for reasons specific to their gender
- Men and women are likely to respond to addiction treatment in gender-specific ways.
Environmental Impact
The Nelson Trust is dedicated to reducing our emissions, and is looking to become carbon neutral in the future. We have appointed an Environmental and Sustainability Lead to ensure these targets are taken seriously.
Our Environmental Impact Committee meets monthly to drive forward sustainable initiatives throughout the Trust, to educate staff and clients about climate change, and to organise our annual sustainable volunteering day.
We are developing Green Spaces across the trust, including our courtyard garden space in Cardiff, and our community garden space in Gloucester, as we recognise the importance of connecting people to nature. In 2022 we achieved Gold Level at the Green Impact Awards, and we hope to continue reducing our impact on the environment.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
The Nelson Trust recognises that there are harsh inequalities within society, some of which have been made more apparent throughout Covid-19. The trust understands that fundamental change is needed at every level in society. In response to this, we have started an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion steering group with staff and client representation from across the organisation.
The group reflects on our current practice, policies, and service approaches by asking how equitable, diverse, and inclusive The Nelson Trust is as an employer and service provider. The group meets every six weeks and has so far identified areas for improvement, areas to reinforce, and relevant changes to practice that are needed. For example, the group has worked to encourage recruitment of a more diverse team of staff, addressed Halal meat and mosque attendance needs prior to admission, arranged lessons for staff and clients to learn sign language, undertaken an Equality Impact Assessment of the buildings and services we provide, and participated in Project TILI (a research project aiming to identify women and girls who are at risk of modern slavery).
