Dallas BraggFormer crystal methamphetamine user, I help men who have sex with men break free from the addictive patterns associated with Chemsex. Currently expanding my expertise by seeking to become a Certified

What’s been your experience with shadow work in recovery? Tell us about your experience in the comm

30 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, the speaker reflects on experiences running a chemsex‑focused structured day program within a recovery setting. While participants initially frame their involvement as about sex, the facilitator notes a recurring theme: many are actually seeking intimacy and genuine relationships. The discussion highlights how the drugs and chemsex context mask deeper emotional needs, prompting the facilitator to consider "reverse engineering"—identifying and bringing into awareness the shadow aspects that drive the behavior. The goal is to use shadow work to help participants recognize that their pursuit of chemsex often stems from unmet relational needs rather than purely sexual desire.

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I mean, chemsex, we're talking about sex mostly. Okay. So it's like, well, look, what is it giving you? You know, so quite often it's not even about the sex. Exactly right. Yes, the drugs are driving that and everything like that. But I'll give you, I'm sort of wandering out about a little bit here, but I know when I was running the group work program, something really, really stood out for me. And we all noticed, there's me and a couple of colleagues doing these programs. Chemsex structured day program. Over that, over the weeks when we did that, the amount of people who said actually what they're really looking for is a relationship. They're looking for intimacy. Yeah. But, but it's, but it's coming out in, in, in the chemsex context. So it's like, right, okay. So when I said earlier about kind of reverse engineering, it's like, okay, well, what, what, what might that look like? Intimacy, relationships, you know, but also looking at what's been put in the shadow in the first place.