Chemsex Pack

This page compiles A4 fact sheets and clinical notes to address chemsex in consultation: rapid assessment, GHB triage, overamping, craving VAS, safety plans, consent scripts, and EMDR reflection. It will be enriched as new resources are published.

Chemsex Office Pack

Clinical benchmarks and harm reduction tools for use in consultation, when substance use, sexuality, and trauma intertwine.

In consultation, chemsex situations rarely leave enough time to open a "complete file."
Sometimes, we only have 5 to 7 minutes to welcome, assess key risks, provide a useful reference point, and maintain the connection.
This pack was designed for those exact moments.

Who is this pack for?

• psychiatrists, general practitioners, infectious disease specialists, emergency physicians;

• psychologists, psychotherapists, addiction specialists;

• CeGIDD, CSAPA, CMP teams, HIV consultation services, community-based organisations;

• supervised peer educators.

This is not a protocol, nor is it an official guide.
It is a set of short clinical tools, designed to support fieldwork, not to replace it.

Objectives of the pack

• Gain clarity in often confusing situations (use, sexuality, trauma, consent).

• Identify potential emergencies (GHB, mixtures, overamping, somatic risks) and refer quickly.

• Introduce realistic harm reduction benchmarks, compatible with where the person is at.

• Articulate substance use and trauma without reducing chemsex to "just an addiction", nor to "only trauma".

• Support EMDR clinical practice and trauma-focused psychotherapies when chemsex is involved.

How to use this pack?

• In a short consultation: choose a sheet, keep it in front of you, follow the 3–5 questions or steps proposed.

• In supervision / team meetings: rely on the sheets to structure the discussion, identify blind spots, and share a common vocabulary.

• With the patient: some sheets can be shown or handed directly to them (craving VAS, safety plan, consent scripts), taking the time to explain them.

The idea is not to "do the whole pack in every session,"
but to have a basic toolkit to avoid being left empty-handed when the subject arises.

What the pack contains:
currently being written, available soon

The Chemsex Office Pack (5–7 minutes) includes:

1. Fact Sheet 1 – GHB Triage: "Deep sleep" and potential emergencies

2. Fact Sheet 2 – Stimulant overamping: recognizing and acting

3. Fact Sheet 3 – Chemsex craving VAS: the worst score decides

4. Fact Sheet 4 – Safety Plan VAS ≥ 7: do not "wing it"

5. Fact Sheet 5 – Consent under the influence: scripts and safeguards

6. Fact Sheet 6 – When to call 15/112? Practical benchmarks in a chemsex context

7. Fact Sheet 7 – Crash / comedown / post-session anxiety

8. Fact Sheet 8 – Slam: harm reduction for safer injection

9. Fact Sheet 9 – 10-minute chemsex decision tree

10. Fact Sheet 10 – Common interactions in a chemsex context: safety benchmarks

Each sheet fits on one A4 page, readable in a few minutes, featuring:

• a clear goal,

• 3–7 concrete questions or steps,

• suggested phrasing to use in consultation,

• warning signs to monitor (red flags).

Limits and precautions

• These tools replace neither medical evaluation nor calling emergency services in case of doubt.

• They do not substitute for official recommendations, nor local procedures (emergency services, hospitals, community networks).

• They are not designed for independent use by the individual concerned, but within a clinical or supportive framework.

In case of doubt regarding the immediate safety of a situation, the rule remains simple: better a call "for nothing" than a delay with irreversible consequences.

Distribution and use

The pack can be:

• used in individual consultations, within teams, or in supervision;

• shared within a service or organization (crediting the source);

• adapted to your local realities, provided that the harm reduction / non-judgment / clinical transparency framework is preserved.