Dallas Bragg, a chemsex recovery coach, says meth use among his clients spikes not during hardship but when things go right: promotions, new relationships, big wins. The dopamine rush of success triggers the urge to amplify it with drugs. Recovery means learning to celebrate without self-sabotage.
For many of my clients, meth doesn't show up when life is bad. It shows up when life is good. Hi, my name is Dallas. I'm a chemsex recovery coach offering a 6-month group coaching program for men who have sex with men. So look, most people think that addiction relapse happens only during the hard moments, right? Like it's the breakup or the loss, the bad day at work or even getting terminated, the fight with the partner, the death in the family. But for some of the men that I work with in chemsex recovery, It's the complete opposite. Meth shows up the night they close the big client, or they get the promotion, the day they get the new job, or they meet the perfect man, the weekend after a win. They've been taught somewhere along the way joy needs to be marked, that success needs to be amplified, that the only way to really feel a good thing is to chase it down with something bigger. It's that dopamine chase, right? And for too long, meth has been that amplifier. One of my clients told me recently, when I feel the most amazing, that's when I want to self-sabotage. Look, let that sit for a minute because it's the truth many men I work with eventually arrive at. So the work in chemsex recovery isn't really about surviving the cravings on the bad days. The work is rewriting what celebration looks like on the good days. What does it look like to land the job, close the deal, feel beautiful, meet the perfect guy, feel powerful, and not burn it all down? What does it look like to be successful, joyful, free, all at the same time, and just be in that? That's the question. And answering it for you slowly, honestly, one win at a time, is how men can build long-term sustainable recovery.
