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Rehab is a lonely place for a gay man like me
Mark Prest
The Guardian
December 11th, 2017
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Mark Prest
The Guardian
December 11th, 2017
Too many services assume people are straight. Tailored, more inclusive approaches are critical – and a civil and human right
It all started with a drink. For millennium celebrations I was in Cape Town with a group of friends. One day at lunch I had what I now know to be a panic attack. To settle my nerves I drank some wine and, as if by magic, all was well. It’s at this point that my social relationship with alcohol shifted – to self-medication for acute anxiety.
How could this happen to me? I was raised in a supportive and loving environment, had an arts degree and was the director of a contemporary art gallery. Not bad for a working class lad from Oldham. But all was not this surface of perfection.
After an excruciating eight-year battle with alcohol, I went to rehab.
My rehab was a small place, and to my knowledge I was the only out gay man there. My sexuality and its relationship to my alcoholism were overlooked by my counsellors. One exception was when weekly men’s and women’s groups were established.
The intention was to create a safe space to air gender-specific issues. The first was themed around sex. Surely they weren’t expecting me to discuss my man-on-man antics in a room full of straight young men? They were.
At my turn to speak I remember saying: “I wasn’t prepared to be the afternoon’s entertainment and titillation.” Afterwards I spoke with a staff member who responded by saying that the issue hadn’t occurred to him. No further groups took place and no alternatives were offered.
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