Let’s talk mental health and drug safety!

[Slave8ngel]

I’m genuinely very curious in what you do as a working girl or client for your mental health and/ or drug safety

-Client/ working girl drug questions

Do you personally practice harm reduction of any kind? Not necessarily methadone or suboxone but more like clean supplies ect ?
If so and are comfortable with sharing where do you get your safe supplies?
A pharmacy?

If you are on a drug treatment program how was it like switching to a program like methadone ect??
If possible/ comfortable please share your story/ thoughts as I’d like this to be an open discussion and possibly impact someone’s life positively

Does your establishment or yourself carry narcan ??

- Mental health questions for mostly working girls

If you work in an establishment (brothal) or an agency do they provide any form of mental health support/ services?
Yes/no?
Your thoughts experiences ?

Have you seeked any professional mental health support and been stigmatised, ghosted or anything negative because you disclosed what you do for work ?
If so please let me know you’re experience and how you dealt with it

Is there anything you do on your own that supports your mental health and wellbeing on a day to day basis, during work or after a tough booking ?

I have my fingers crossed that this thread can be a warm and open conversation and we can turn this into a mini conversation that helps and supports each other

I don’t want to keep this long but if you ask I’m happy to share professional and personal information on topics/ questions you ask

I love you all, stay safe

 

[Miss Monique]

Personally your asking for trouble if willing to see a client who is using heavy drugs. Last Melbourne tour, I had a client shoot up in my bathroom. I cancelled the booking. If girls are using then no. That's an invitation to police, and being shut down.
I have Narcan in my first aid kit. But we are not trained or legally allowed to administer it to my knowledge. So opening a can of worms there.
To be honest I find this post rather judgemental and the assumption that sex workers have mental health issues and substance issues.
I'm a former correctional services officer. Have a BA in psychology and currently doing masters degree psychology.
Reception and brothel owners are not trained in mental health first aid.
Perhaps that is something that should be considered.

 

[Slave8ngel]

Personally your asking for trouble if willing to see a client who is using heavy drugs. Last Melbourne tour, I had a client shoot up in my bathroom. I cancelled the booking. If girls are using then no. That's an invitation to police, and being shut down.
I have Narcan in my first aid kit. But we are not trained or legally allowed to administer it to my knowledge. So opening a can of worms there.
To be honest I find this post rather judgemental and the assumption that sex workers have mental health issues and substance issues.
I'm a former correctional services officer. Have a BA in psychology and currently doing masters degree psychology.
Reception and brothel owners are not trained in mental health first aid.
Perhaps that is something that should be considered.

In WA specifically narcan is free over the counter and is legal to administer without legal qualification although if you need it you can receive advice over the counter by the pharmacy or reps in a clinic (instructions are on the box and narcan is not harmful if administered to someone who is OD on something else and not opioids)

This post did NOT assume that sex workers have poor mental health all I asked is if you have DISCLOSED your job to a mental health professional and have received a negative response and if so what was the outcome

Practicing certain methods that support your mental health in general on a day to day basis is so important and can make an impact on your life and mental health wellbeing in the long run, things like stress is extremely common to everyone, I think people seem to forget that there is a HUGE difference between mental illness and mental health

I have spoken to so many girls who don’t have anything to do with “mental illness” but will still come out of a booking and go “that was rough, I need 5 minutes to collect myself and get back in the right mindset” so I was simply asking what they would do if they felt that way

You do not need to be specifically “qualified” in order to advocate for mental health in the workplace because someone experiencing poor mental health for the first time may not know any recourses, having a simple sheet of contact numbers that are reputable by the government is easily accessible and can be printed off from the internet and can start something so positive

I just wanted this tread to start a positive chain of questions, stories and advice across a long spectrum of drug and mental health more related to/ within the sex work industry because this thread is called “drug and mental health” ? Is it not? And those were simply my questions I wanted to ask

 

[Miss Monique]

Interesting passive aggressive reply.
First and foremost if a worker is that off their face they should not be in the workplace fullstop
As it places both them and other staff in danger.
Secondly its not a babysitting service. Enabling dosent help a person. Would you like to bring in human resources to the adult industry? Because in the mainstream workforce HR writes policy and procedures for such issues.
Then let's talk about the burden placed on other staff and business owners. What legal implications are there if a person drops, narcan given and the person dies?

Who are you and what is your role is the industry?

After 20 years I'm well aware of the substance issues and mental health, including the toll it takes on us. But there has to be a line drawn in what is each person's responsibility.
We living in the real world, not a fantasy one.
There is a short mental health first aid course people can do.

I'm very mindful that damaged people damage others. So having other girls or Madame's giving mental health support with no training can be rather dangerous. Thier own past trauma would effect thus.

 

[Miss Monique]

@Mrs Langtrees
Does Langtrees have a policy in place for this?

I do agree with having a list with numbers you can direct people too.
I'm also extremely mindful of untrained people giving advice on such matters. Plus the affect it could have on staff and business owners. Development of policies are time consuming, costly etc
Look forward to imput from others on this subject. DV and family violence should be included too

 

[Shazaam]

In regard to mental health first aid. Being asked if I'm ok/allright two or three times when I visit a person gets really really annoying. Also people referring one onto therapists should the conversation not be generic shows a lack of insight on the refferers part.

Being asked if one is ok in the hope one can brushed off onto the mental health service because the person asking has lack of insight is also annoying.

 

[Phoebe]

Mental health is one thing and unless it leads you to commit an offense you are normally all okay to be around, and to function in society, I think anyone client/escort/receptionist/brothel owner has faced mental issues at one time or another in our lives and we all have our own ways to tackle that and the times when we face it, some have dogs and go for walks, some listen to music some go for drives, some call girlfriends up and cry etc we all have our own ways to self treatment including professionals and anti-depressants etc etc some get through these dark times, some continue the fight daily. the deal here is is society dictates to men to be strong to not to cry etc etc be manly 24/7/365 so men don't normally ask for help as what women do, and women around other women know when a woman is down/depressed etc etc women just know these things and are better at dealing with this, plus it's all okay for a woman to cry even in public men not so, I know that may be generalizing but isn't that is how society works as a whole.

As for Drugs on there own Australia doesn't see drugs the same way as other nations see drugs as a health issue and not a criminal issue as Australia does, its black and white here, if you have got drugs on you then well arrest, charge, depending on circumstances not be granted bail and potentially end up with a custodial sentence and if that is longer than 12 months well your life for many jobs etc is cooked esp ones that need security clearances/police certificates etc all because you made a silly mistake once 20 years ago etc, in other nations that is considered health issues if what you are carrying is personal use not 3 plus kilos of powder so to speak, drugs are bad we all know that, but hey if you are feeling low and are vulnerable a lift up can sometimes help (Momentarily) but then we see what that does, and sadly in Perth the many homeless people you see could of ended up there because of both of these issues.

I hope that sounds and reads all okay.