Sarah (not her real name) shared her emotional story as the Nelson Trust officially reopened its newly refurbished Swindon Women’s Centre on Victoria Road, where it was revealed that more than 10,000 women have now walked through its doors.
The centre has operated in Swindon since 2013, supporting women affected by issues including domestic abuse, trauma, addiction, homelessness, poverty and involvement in the criminal justice system.
But Sarah told guests at Wednesday’s opening that only a few years ago her own life looked very different.
She said she had spent 12 years in an emotionally and psychologically abusive marriage and had begun using alcohol to numb the trauma she was carrying. Eventually she was arrested after drink-driving and crashing her car.
She recalled waking up in a police cell believing her life was over, before a Nelson Trust worker came to see her. She said:
“I will never forget a woman walking into my cell.
“What I remember most is the kindness. I remember the hug, I remember the smile, and I remember her saying, ‘You’re going to be okay.’
“Those words meant more than she will probably ever know.”
She went on to work with the Trust as part of her rehabilitation and said she gradually began to understand the experiences and trauma which had contributed to her difficulties.
She stopped using alcohol, found the courage to leave her marriage and was later offered a place on the Nelson Trust’s 90-day substance misuse traineeship programme.
That eventually led to employment at the Swindon Women’s Centre itself, where she now supports women facing their own challenges.
Speaking at the reopening, she said:
“Today, I stand here an incredibly grateful woman, grateful that the Nelson Trust helped save my life.
“Grateful that my children got their mum back. Grateful that my mum got her daughter back.”
She added:
“Sometimes, all it takes is one person to believe in you before you can start believing in yourself.”
Her story was one of several powerful accounts shared during the event, which marked the completion of a major refurbishment of the centre.
Nelson Trust chief executive Kristina Lyon said the service had grown significantly from its early days, when staff would make toasties for women in a makeshift kitchen. Since then, she said more than 10,000 women have come through the Swindon centre.
“Each woman has brought her own experiences, her strengths and hopes for the future,” she said.
“Many have gone on to rebuild their lives, reconnect with their families, enter education or employment and contribute to their communities.”
Ms Lyon said women arriving at the centre often faced several problems at once, including domestic abuse, trauma, poverty, homelessness, family separation and involvement with the criminal justice system.
She said conventional services could feel fragmented, with women having to repeatedly tell their stories or attend appointments in several different places. The centre, she said, was designed to offer “one trusted place” where different services could work around the individual woman.
She added that the refurbished building was about far more than improving the surroundings.
“This beautiful new centre gives our staff and partners an environment worthy of the work that they do, and it gives the women we support an environment that reflects their value and their potential.”
Another woman, gave an emotional account of surviving serious domestic abuse, addiction and separation from her children before rebuilding her life with support from organisations including the Nelson Trust and Change Grow Live.
She described travelling extensively to maintain contact with her children while they were living in different areas and spoke about fighting against plans which could have seen them remain permanently outside her care.
She said she eventually became drug-free and alcohol-free and rebuilt a stable life.
The reopening was also attended by Swindon South MP and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, who praised both women for sharing their experiences.
Addressing the last lady, she said her speech was “one of the most powerful things that I’ve ever heard”.
Ms Alexander also praised the role played by women’s centres in dealing with the underlying causes which can lead women into the criminal justice system. She said women involved with the justice system may also be dealing with domestic abuse, trauma, addiction, poor mental health, homelessness and acute poverty.
“If we really want to break the cycle of violence in our society, if we really want to break that cycle of offending and reoffending, then we have to tackle those underlying issues,” she said.
She added that centres such as Swindon’s could bring specialist support together under one roof instead of expecting vulnerable women to navigate a complicated system alone.
Ms Alexander is currently the Labour MP for Swindon South and Secretary of State for Transport. The Nelson Trust says it now supports around 5,000 people each year across its wider services, including residential rehabilitation and women’s centres across the South West and Wales.
For Sarah, however, the importance of the refurbished Swindon centre is much more personal. She told those gathered for its reopening:
“The Nelson Trust saw things in me that I simply could not see in myself.
“They saw strength when I felt weak. They saw potential when I felt broken, and they saw a future when all I could see was my past.”
