Dr Eugenie Hilda Dorothy Cheesmond (13 June 1919 – 11 October 2007) was a psychiatrist with a particular interest in drug addiction who formed the Lifeline charity in 1971.
Shortly after completing her studies, Cheesmond left to work in Kenya for 18 months as a 'government general practitioner' in Nairobi which she enjoyed, describing it as 'an entirely non-racial practice'.
[2] After the experience of conflict with the Macclesfield hospital, Cheesmond formed EROS, a charitable organisation working with drug addiction, and in 1971 this became the Lifeline Trust, with support from the Bishop of Manchester and the On The 8th Day Collective.
[10] In his Therapeutic Communities Archive tribute to Cheesmond, Yates writes 'she was...a powerful force at a time when many in the medical profession felt that addiction was simply incurable'.
[11] Lifeline referred people on to residential therapeutic communities, and developed programmes such as the Bail Release Scheme.
At that point it employed 1,300 workers and provided services for 80,000 people a year, including prisoners in 22 jails and other institutions.