Vision, Mission & Impact
Our Vision
A society where trauma, addiction and disadvantage
never limit potential.
Our Mission
Walking alongside people
as they heal, recover
and thrive.
Our Impact
In 2025 our women’s community services supported over 6,000 women access treatment throughout the South West and Wales, and delivered over 12,000 individualised sessions provided by keyworkers, working with women holistically to address a wide range of needs. Our residential and recovery services supported 143 people in our treatment centres, delivering a range of group interventions such as CBT, interpersonal group therapy and trauma specific groups.
Centre of Excellence
Level 1 Social Value Management Certificate
The Nelson Trust now hold a Level 1 Social Value Management Certificate from Social Value International, demonstrating our continued commitment to delivering social value across all of the communities we work in.
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.
Women's Based Support in Rural Wales
In 2026, we opened a new centre in Pontypridd, expanding on our already established outreach services across the Cwm Taf area. The centre is a dedicated space for women to attend therapeutic group sessions, access to donations and essential items, as well as one-to-one keyworker support from the same space.
Additionally, our Mini Hub in Carmarthenshire and outreach support in Dyfed Powys extends our 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.
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.
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 spaces in our Women’s Centres, and our community garden spaces at our residential houses. We recognise the importance of connecting people to nature and the benefits it has for people in recovery. 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).
