The Nelson Trust

The Nelson Trust

Founded in 1985, The Nelson Trust began as a single residential addiction treatment service in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Under CEO Christina Line — who took the top role after serving as COO — the charity has expanded into a regional provider of trauma-informed, gender-specific services. Its founding mission centres on long-term recovery for adults facing substance misuse and multiple disadvantages, with a model that combines clinical treatment with employment, education, and resettlement support. The Trust delivers services across two core pillars: residential addiction treatment and community-based women’s centres. Its residential programmes operate from sites such as East Wharf Cottage in Gloucester and The Nelson Inn in Stroud. The women’s centres — located in Gloucester, Swindon, Bridgwater, Bristol, Cardiff, and Newport — provide non-residential support for women affected by trauma, sex working, and the criminal justice system. The Ministry of Justice is a named government partner, funding female offender rehabilitation contracts across multiple sites. Programmes are trauma-informed and relational, tailored to each local authority’s commissioning requirements. The charity is governed by a Board of Trustees chaired since 2024 by Professor Dame Julie Lydon. Patron HRH The Princess Royal remains a consistent supporter and visitor to the Trust’s facilities. The property portfolio includes at least nine sites: a headquarters in Brimscombe, six operational women’s centres, two residential treatment properties, and a community photography project in Newport. The organisation is a member of Social Enterprise UK and the Cheltenham Chamber of Commerce, reflecting its dual identity as a charity and a provider of contracted public services. In 2024, Professor Dame Julie Lydon was appointed Chair of the Board of Trustees. The Trust’s architectural distinction lies in its close operational integration with UK government commissioning. Rather than operating as a standalone treatment provider, it functions as a contracted delivery partner for the Ministry of Justice, embedding its women’s centres within the statutory support framework for female offenders. This public-sector contracting model creates a structural dependency on government grant cycles while simultaneously granting the Trust access to a stable referral pipeline that peer charities without offender rehabilitation contracts do not share.