Healthcare options are no longer the cut and dried doctor’s appointment, massage, talk therapy of our parents’ generation. Today, you can get a wellbeing boost via energy healing, jade rolling or even seeing a professional cuddler.
Bethany Heap is a professional cuddler. The owner of Cuddle Therapy Australia and the Cuddle Academy, she spends her days cuddling clients through the former and offers training to those who wish to become accredited cuddle therapists through the latter.
Here, she explains what cuddle therapy is and what being a professional cuddler entails.
What is professional cuddling about?
Essentially professional cuddling is about providing a platonic (and it is strictly platonic) companionship service for people who are feeling lonely, isolated and unable to seek comfort elsewhere.
Sometimes they’ve had an experience they can’t share with people close to them, and other times they want some segregation to process their thoughts.
Professional cuddling is about providing a safe, non-judgemental platform for clients to rest, find support, grieve, breathe. But it’s so much more than that. Every client sees a professional cuddler with their own motivation. A professional cuddler holds space for a client, allows them to rest, relax, cry, sleep and feel a connection to someone.
What are the scientifically-proven benefits of hugging?
Hugging produces oxytocin. Oxytocin is a bonding hormone that promotes calmness and security and reduces stress hormones. Hugging is a highly effective stress reliever. A good cuddle can induce physical signs of calm like a slower heart rate and lowered blood pressure. A good dose of oxytocin can reduce stress hormones that produce in unpleasant situations, and lower stress levels through cuddling can also improve the immune system. Hugging can have positive mental and emotional health effects by decreasing depression while increasing positive feelings (like connectedness and self-worth). Studies have shown that a good cuddle can alleviate pain, reduce anxiety, increases immunity, promotes calm thereby allowing for better sleep and can lower the risk of heart-related issues (blood pressure. heart disease)
What are the benefits of cuddle therapy ?
Clients often leave cuddle therapy feeling emotionally lighter. Well rested. At ease.
When I first started out, I had a particular client come to me who was really uncomfortable with touch. They’d flinch if anyone touched their arm and sat with a lot of tension. There was just general discomfort and anxiety to any interaction they had. We worked through a long process of several sessions which probably wouldn’t sound like much written down, but for them, it was so helpful. By the end of our journey, they were not only able to be present with me but also contacted me a few months later to disclose that they’d entered into a relationship and that their ease at work had improved as well. It just made life a little easier for them. It’s rewarding to know that you’re helping people empower themselves in that way.
What inspired you to become a cuddle therapist?
I’ve always been a hugger. Cuddles convey so much to people. It doesn’t matter whether you’re greeting people, supporting, congratulating, consoling or bonding with them over a joke or something – there’s a hug for all of it.
I’m a compassionate person. I give authentic hugs, and I love being present for people. Being a cuddle therapist was just a natural extension of work I was doing already and resonated with my personality and my desire to offer comfort to people as best I can.
Does cuddle therapy satisfy a human need?
Absolutely, touch is a basic need. Our earliest communication is touch. The first act from birth is to have a baby placed in mum (or dad’s) arms – we are embraced the moment we arrive in the world. Before we can speak, we hug to show love.
As kids we hug when we are happy, and we hug for comfort if we are afraid. It is our first form of communication. Beyond infancy, for most children, cuddles continue to play a vital role in love, support and belonging.
As we grow past our teens and into adulthood, we tend to get fewer and fewer cuddles – and life starts getting a little more intense at this stage. Realistically, adulthood should be when the cuddle dose gets upped because adulting can really suck sometimes.
