Cuddle Therapy

Caregiving changes your body as much as your heart. When you’re caring for a spouse or parent whose memory is fading, you often lose your own source of comfort — the hand that held yours, the presence that made you feel steady. Over time, your nervous system absorbs that loss, even when you don’t have words for it.

Cuddle Therapy is a way to receive what you’ve been giving. Emily is a Certified Cuddlist (CCT) with more than five years of experience providing professional, platonic touch therapy. Every session is consent-based, guided entirely by your comfort level, and grounded in trauma-informed care.

This is about having an hour that’s just for you. It’s about relieving your body of the stress and tension that come from constant concern and worry. This is your time. Let Emily help you feel safe enough to rest — even for an hour.

How does it help caregivers?

• Alleviates the loneliness that caregivers carry silently

• Decreases symptoms of anxiety and depression

• Lowers cortisol and helps regulate an overtaxed nervous system

• Boosts oxytocin — the hormone your body needs to feel connected

• Strengthens immunity during periods of chronic stress

• Lowers blood pressure

How does it help people with fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is not well understood. However, researchers do agree that it involves the nervous system more than the muscles. A 2024 paper in Biomedicines (Bruti & Foggetti) proposes that fibromyalgia is best understood as a stress intolerance syndrome — a body that has lost its ability to regulate its own alarm system.

The authors identify three interacting systems at the root of it:

• the attachment system (how safe we feel with others)
• the oxytocinergic system (oxytocin, which has significant analgesic and anti-anxiety effects alongside its better-known role in bonding)
• and C-tactile fibers — a class of nerve fibers in the skin that respond specifically to gentle, slow, affective touch, the kind of touch that says you are safe.

This safe kind of touch is exactly what you get in a client-led, therapeutic cuddle session. You have space to decide exactly how much closeness you want, and what kind of touch, if any, feels right for you. Your nervous system has the opportunity to calm and coregulate with a human who will hold you in unconditional positive regard. In that situation, oxytocin is naturally released into your system, which will naturally reduce pain. It’s a support for your body as it does its own work toward wellness.

How does it help people dealing with grief, loss, and/or loneliness? 

Grief and loss trigger changes in the body, including increasing stress hormones, weakening immune function, and impacting sleep and memory. The body tends to stay in the “fight-or-flight” state even when there is no physical threat. 

Cuddle therapy can help your body find a sense of safety again. It can also facilitate a healthy release of trapped emotions. Cuddle therapy clients have reported benefits to sleep and reduced stress lasting for days after a session. This kind of therapeutic touch can be an important adjunct to talk therapy, bringing the body and mind together in a safe environment.

How does this help relational skill building?

Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve had someone to hold, or to hold you. It can be hard to get started again. Or maybe you have very little experience with touch at all. A cuddle session is an opportunity to practice being aware of and communicating your likes and dislikes. You’ll be able to speak your “yes” and your “no” in a situation where the boundaries are clear and there’s no guess-work. Nothing happens unless you want it to.

How does this help heal trauma? 

Many of us have survived some big challenges in our lives. And talk therapy is indispensable for those seasons when we’re working on healing. But sometimes we need another support. Cuddle therapy can be a great adjunct to talk therapy, as it provides a somatic (bodily) experience of peace in the midst of the healing journey. Some clients choose to allow communication between their cuddle- and talk-therapist so all three can work as a team for even better support. 

How else can this help you?

You don’t need a specific reason to try cuddle therapy. If you’re here, some part of you is interested in trying it out. 

Many clients pair cuddle therapy with our decluttering support — doing the practical work first, then regulating their nervous system afterward. And there’s no wrong way to approach this — Emily will work with you to develop an approach that is tailored to your specific situation and needs.

Your first conversation is always free. Call or text (330) 790-5772.