Chemsex itself isn’t a new occurrence among GBQMSM, but despite this, comprehensive information about it remains relatively sparse. This makes developing services for persons who engage in chemsex challenging, and community groups and organizations expressed a need for guidance and support to address this issue and ensure that the services they provide are inclusive and responsive to the needs of people they serve. To bolster the efforts of our members, AIDS Action Europe implemented several activities related to chemsex, sharing relevant skills, knowledge, and resources.
In 2023, we published a manual providing a structured and interactive guide to planning and implementing chemsex-related harm reduction services. It contains an accessible overview of different definitions of chemsex, describes most commonly used substances and their effects, gives practical pointers and good practice examples of chems-friendly services, and outlines a chemsex harm reduction course for service providers, complete with an extensive list of resources and recommendations for further reading.
The aim of the manual is not to create experts on chemsex, but rather to encourage service providers to continuously engage with the topic and use their analytical, critical, and creative skills to better serve their communities.
The manual was originally published in English and has since been translated into 13 languages by our partner organisations: Czech, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Turkish and Ukrainian.
Antonios Poulios is a clinical psychologist, M.Sc., Ph.D. and psychoanalyst who authored the manual "Harm Reduction in the Context of Chemsex" and facilitated the two rounds of ToT. He works as a scientific coordinator of community projects at the Greek Association of People Living with HIV, "Positive Voice," and as a private therapist.
Based on the training manual, we conducted two Training of Trainers (ToT) sessions on chemsex-related harm reduction in September 2023 and June 2024. 26 community health workers completed the training and created an informal network for exchange and support while preparing to conduct their own training workshops.
Supported by AAE’s small grants, national trainings were conducted in Romania, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Portugal, Finland, Malta, Ukraine and Slovenia. If you would like to implement similar activities we’re happy to answer any questions you might have and put you in touch with organizations facing similar challenges.
Below you can find a continuously updated collection of relevant materials developed by community organizations and community-friendly harm reduction tools.
