"There's a Kind of Support Most People Don't Know Exists" - Sharing from a "Cuddlist"
- kazhaze2
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
Today's blog entry is something I want to share from the "Cuddlist" newsletter, by Michelle Renee. "Cuddlist" is a cuddle therapy training school in the USA.
"Hi, I'm Michelle Renee.
I'm the co-owner and COO of Cuddlist, and I also run my own private practice in San Diego as a Holistic Intimacy Coach. But honestly, before either of those titles, I was just a person who stumbled into this work in 2015 and had my life quietly rearranged by it.
I found Cuddlist at a crossroads. I was looking for something I couldn't quite name yet. What I discovered changed everything: my relationships, my sense of self, my understanding of what healing could actually look like. I eventually became certified, then a co-owner of the very platform that first trained me. This work isn't just what I do. It's how I learned to be in the world. Which is part of why this newsletter feels overdue.
This is the first time Cuddlist has reached out like this, beyond our practitioner community, to the broader world. To people who are curious. To therapists who might be looking for something their clients can't quite access through words alone. To anyone who has ever felt like something was just out of reach in their healing journey and couldn't figure out why.
What finally moved me to write it was re-listening to the very first episode of our podcast, Finding Ourself: A Heartfelt Cuddlist Podcast. I co-host with my co-owner Keeley Shoup, and this episode features Erin Kelly, a Pittsburgh-based psychotherapist who specializes in complex trauma. Listening back, I kept thinking: the people who most need to hear this conversation don't know it exists.
So here I am.
You don't have to be in therapy to work with a Cuddlist practitioner.
You don't have to have a diagnosis, a treatment plan, or even a clear idea of what you're looking for. You can simply be a person who is lonely, or touch-starved, or curious about what it might feel like to be in the presence of another human being without any agenda attached.
That's enough.
And if you are in therapy? What you're about to hear might genuinely surprise you. In this episode, Erin shares an extraordinary example of what became possible when she and a Cuddlist practitioner (who happens to be me) began working together in support of the same client. Not just trading notes from separate offices, but actually in the room together.
What happened in that room, and in the weeks of integration that followed, was something neither of us could have created alone. We share this story not because every Cuddlist client needs a therapist in the room, but because it illustrates an important point: therapeutic touch isn't a last resort or a fringe idea. It's a legitimate, research-supported way to meet needs that words simply cannot reach. Needs that your nervous system has probably been signalling for a long time.
Most people have never heard of a therapeutic touch practitioner. Most therapists have never referred to one. Most people struggling with isolation, trauma, or a complicated relationship with their own body just don't know this is an option.Spread the word by sharing this email with a friend. Warmly, Michelle Renee Cuddlist.com Co-Owner & COO" |
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