A tribute to David Stuart

We are shocked and saddened to learn that David Stuart has died suddenly. David was a chemsex activist and former colleague with us at London Friend in our Antidote team.

David joined us as an incredibly dedicated volunteer in 2007 and later became our Training and Outreach Manager before joining the team at 56 Dean Street in 2014. During this time, we saw the rise of chemsex, and David played a key role in developing the first chemsex services in the UK. David helped develop support for clients that understood chemsex and the sometimes-complicated interplay of sex, drugs, and mental wellbeing. These were compassionate interventions that always put clients firmly at the centre of the work.

During his time with Antidote David led on other ground-breaking partnerships with two pioneering chemsex services – 56 Dean Street and the Club Drug Clinic – both early to acknowledge chemsex and to provide a specialist pathway for gay and bisexual men. Code Clinic, the UK’s first specialist chemsex clinic to be based within a sexual health service, was a partnership between Antidote and 56 Dean Street which David established. As our training lead David helped countless healthcare professionals to understand chemsex, most encountering it for the first time, and to develop their own informed and caring services.

Our thoughts are with David’s nearest and dearest at this time.