Kristel Penn Discusses Mental Health in Latest XBIZ Issue

Grooby’s Marketing and Editorial Director, Kristel Penn, was recently featured in the latest issue of XBIZ discussing mental health and the adult industry with other advocates and adult performers. The issue is a must-read and can be read and this feature can be read in its entirety at this link: http://www.xbizdigital.com/xw/2019-06/

Penn’s original responses can be found below: 

From your perspective, what should the industry be doing, or what can they do better, to support and protect the mental health of performers?

This seems like a straightforward question, but the answer is very complicated because our industry is vast and the concerns performers face is as diverse as the performers themselves. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Personally speaking, I’d like to see companies contribute resources (financial or otherwise) to help create more access to intersectional (this is also key) sex-worker affirming mental health services for our performers. It is, first of all, that any professionals we send our performers to are sex worker affirming, but we also want to make sure performers are seen. We all hold multiple identities, often with both marginalization and privilege, and it is important that people working in our community understand that. Companies who say they want to help need follow through in concrete ways rather than just pay lip service to this ongoing discussion. At this point, good intentions are not enough. We need action and we needed it yesterday.

I also believe there should be more education to help empower performers needing to navigate mental health services. My friend Chauntelle Tibbals brought that up to me recently and I think she’s absolutely right. For example, how do you interview therapists to see if they would be a good fit, what are your rights as a patient, what ethical code of conduct must clinicians follow, how do you navigate and submit paperwork (if you have insurance)?

I decided to pursue an MA in Counseling because I’d like to use my educational experience to share my knowledge with others. Mental health is of personal importance to me and I think the framework I’m learning in school is applicable to our industry and can help with its sustainability. We are in a business where our product involves the bodies of our performers and thus should be held with reverence. If industries outside of porn can value the mental health and happiness of their employees, we absolutely have a responsibility to do the same in our communities.

What are some of the practices you recommend performers rely on to sane and grounded as they deal with the stresses of their work?

I encourage performers (and anyone, really) to practice self-care when they feel ungrounded or stressed. Yes, totally easier said than done. But to start, I’d ask people to find and identify safe activities they enjoy (e.g. writing, exercising, listening to music, cooking, etc.). Create a physical list and keep adding to it, so that when they feel low on resources, they can see all of their options laid out.

If an activity doesn’t immediately pop into their heads, I suggest they think about something they did as a child to self-soothe and ask if it’s something they could practice now. Sometimes some of our oldest self-soothing techniques are still some of our most effective.

A bit of advice my therapist told me was to do everything as small, concrete goals. Big picture stuff can be overwhelming, so creating small concrete goals to get through the day can break up tasks in manageable chunks. Most importantly, however, is to be kind to yourself when you can’t complete a task. For example, if you are having a hard time leaving the house due to depression, can you set smaller goals for yourself like today I will leave my bed, and if you are successful, tomorrow’s goal can be to take a shower, and so forth. Then let’s say you are unable to take a shower, remind yourself it’s okay and that you can try again tomorrow.

In psychology, there is a concept known as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It looks like a pyramid, with a person’s fundamental needs listed at the bottom and the need for self-actualization listed at the top. The theory is that an individual’s most basic needs must be met before they are able to address higher level needs. I encourage people to practice self-care with this framework in mind and use Maslow’s theory as a way to take a temperature of their mental state. If they are in crisis, for example, what kind of tasks can the person do to help soothe fundamental needs (physiological and safety)?

If possible, I also recommend reaching out to others for support, both professionally and personally. Isolation plays all kinds of dirty tricks on your mind, so I recommend adopting a buddy system. This can be in the form of a therapist, a friend, a family member, or even better, having multiple “buddies.”

What would you want people to know about performers and sex work that isn’t generally discussed? 

I think it’s important to remember that people enter the industry for a variety of reasons and come from a variety of different backgrounds. While people in our industry may be more susceptible to certain stresses and areas of concern, like depression or anxiety, I caution from making blanket assumptions about why.

Non-performers, like myself, should practice being allies and advocates for sex workers while being very aware of the space we take up and should uplift the voices of sex workers themselves.

What are common concerns you hear from performers and sex workers that you feel should be on the table for discussion?

Many sex workers face stigma and discrimination in their everyday lives, which may limit access to where and how they receive support. There may also be financial limitations. In our discussions about how to help performers in our industry, we need as many voices as possible to contribute to get a comprehensive view of what’s needed because, as mentioned, there is no single solution to help.

For example, Steven Grooby, Buck Angel, and I created TAIF (Trans Adult Industry Foundation) to support trans adult performers and their unique needs. We created our organization as a conduit to allocate resources that make sense for the trans community, keeping in mind that transgender individuals face a disproportionately high percentage of violence and discrimination compared to other groups.

Final Thoughts?

I think we all need to do our due diligence when examining mental health resources being made available to our industry. We shouldn’t immediately assume an organization is sex worker affirming just because they say they are. We do not have to accept every opportunity being handed to us – it is our right to ask questions and keep on asking them if something about feels uneasy. Additionally, we need to do our own research in order to make informed decisions about the organizations we associate ourselves with. There is more than just financial resources at play, this has to do with the well-being and livelihood of human beings. How do most people make big decisions? They do some kind of research – whether it’s online, person-to-person, etc. But generally, there is some process of research involved before making a decision. This is no different – we need to practice due diligence.