RBC Brewin Dolphin Marlborough Office, collectivalley as a team are rowing the length of The River Thames from January 9th 2023 - January 13th 2023.

We will be doing this to raise money for The Nelson Trust Womens Center in Swindon.

The Nelson Trust Womens Centre in Swindon is expanding into larger premises so we are able to support more women. Having more space will allow us to offer more activities and groups in a safe supportive environment.

The Nelson Trust is an award winning registered charity which brings long-term recovery and lasting change to lives affected by addiction and multiple vulnerabilities. Alongside delivering abstinence-based residential addiction treatment, we also run five Women's Centres: Gloucester, Swindon, Bridgwater, Bristol and Cardiff.

We work creatively and collaboratively with vulnerable individuals, helping them to tackle the root causes of substance misuse, abuse, deprivation, violence, and poverty. We believe in the possibility of change and that with the right support, understanding and empowerment, individuals can achieve their full potential and
thrive in their communities.

Our Women’s Centres deliver practical and emotional support to some of the most disadvantaged, marginalised and stigmatised women in our communities. Most of the women who access our services have four or more needs across nine crimogenic pathways.

 The Centre’s offer both practical and emotional support across the nine pathways of need including housing; finances; physical, emotional and mental health; drugs and alcohol; trauma and abuse; sexual exploitation and sex-working; attitudes, thinking and behaviour; education and training and families and relationships. As well as providing onsite creche facilities, food and clothes donations, a variety of therapeutic groups and more leisurely groups such as gardening, cooking and arts and crafts. The aim is to provide ‘wrap around support’ for a woman in need, therefore helping to ensure that she does not slip through the net where

she might with other services.

 Many women seeking support for our service have four or more unmet needs across these 9 pathways. Women in this cohort are frequently defined as ‘hard to engage’ yet women tell us that it is services that are difficult to engage with. As such without holistic support women often fall through the gaps in services further exasperating their needs.