The Nelson Trust

We place equal importance on helping people to recover from their addiction as we do on helping them re-build a positive, independent life in order to sustain their abstinence once they have left our care.

Our programme is for men and women seeking an abstinence-based residential treatment programme to achieve lasting recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.

We are situated in the Cotswolds, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We have four residential treatment houses in the village of Brimscombe, near Stroud, with safe women only and mixed accommodation.

During the last CQC inspection Nelson House has been awarded ‘Good’ from CQC across all areas of The Nelson Trust’s Residential Rehabilitation Services.

How long does the programme last?

Your care plan is designed for a period of 12 to 24 weeks. However, individual circumstances and needs vary and some clients need to extend or reduce their stay. We review progress regularly and clients are involved in planning their move-on in a way that meets their personal needs.

Many of our clients come to us with nothing. They may have lost relationships, jobs, sometimes their home and their children. They leave us with improved health and the tools, support and friendships they need to change the whole of their life. From one framed by dependence on substances to a life of independence and fulfilment.

How our approach turns lives around

Lifelong recovery is much more than abstinence from drugs and alcohol. It’s about finding a whole new way of living. So to overcome addiction, we treat its causes. We give everyone that leaves our care the tools and support they need to manage the stresses of everyday life and live independently, without the need for any mood-altering substances.

Beating addiction and breaking the cycle of relapse

Our residential abstinence-based treatment programmes are here to help our clients achieve genuine long-lasting recovery. A stay with us provides much-needed emotional support, improves physical health and provides the tools needed to live a new life of freedom and happiness.

Specialist Women’s Programme

Our Women’s Residential Treatment Programme is particularly suited to those with a history of childhood sexual abuse; domestic or sexual violence; sex-working; women with a pattern of relapse linked to forming unhelpful relationships with men, perhaps in previous treatment episodes.

We provide a therapeutic environment and women-only treatment houses where women can work together to address their substance misuse and any underlying issues safely.

Read more about:

Nelson House Women’s services

Nelson Trust Informed Approaches

A programme tailored to you

Our programme is holistic and client-centred.  We build personally-tailored care plans for each client based on their individual needs, circumstances and personal strengths. We consider not only addiction itself, but also the physical and mental health of each client, their emotional well-being, their family circumstances and their needs in respect of finances, housing, education, training and wider social integration. Our aspiration for every client is that they complete treatment with the confidence to sustain their recovery, maintain abstinence from drugs and alcohol, and have a clear plan of action to attain their future goals and ambitions.

An integrative approach

Treatment is based on firm clinical evidence and is in line with Department of Health guidance on best treatment practice. This means that we use a range of therapeutic techniques including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing (MI) and mindfulness.

A personal recovery programme, therapeutic groups and workshops are interwoven with education, recreational activities, practical support and the day-to-day routines of a therapeutic community and it is the whole of this programme that comes together to provide a comprehensive plan of action to address treatment care and support needs.

Residential treatment workshops

We provide an empowering learning environment for clients of the Nelson Trust’s Residential Rehab to attend a mixed programme of workshops to complement their therapeutic treatment journey. Classes are provided by SGS College, Adult Education Gloucestershire, WEA as well as our independent team of tutors.

What will life be like in rehab?

We make every effort to create a safe, supportive and friendly community. Shopping, cooking and sharing meals together, alongside daily routines bring people together and many lifelong friendships are made here. You can see some of the activities in our therapeutic programme where you will learn, develop and grow in your recovery.

Evidence-based practice

The Nelson Trust has been an initiator of many partnerships and has piloted innovative services in the fields of addiction, family therapy and work with women with complex needs.  At the heart of our innovation always lies the learning from those we work with, listening to their needs, their strengths and their ambitions has always directed the work we do.

We follow our experience and models of good practice, we systematically monitor our work in order to celebrate clients’ progress but also to enable action-learning to happen from the bottom-up and improve our practice and services. This process is guided by our monitoring of key client outcomes, which enables us to check the progress clients make against our overall aim of supporting people affected by drug and/or alcohol addiction to recover and thrive in their communities.

We are able to map how our specific aims (such as improving clients’ understanding of patterns of addictive behaviour, developing their life skills, enabling them to create safety in their lives) are achieved by providing activities (provide counselling, psycho-educational activities, employability courses & parenting groups in a trauma and gender-responsive environment, & provide advocacy & 1-2-1 advice on housing, finances, domestic violence, etc.) which translate into outcomes by measuring key indicators (number of clients completing treatment drug and/or alcohol free, number of clients co-producing a care plan during treatment, number of clients accessing relevant interventions).

Bed Capacity

44 Rehab beds / 20 Women-only