A professional hugger makes a living by organizing cuddle parties and one-on-one cuddle sessions.
30-year-old Trevor Hooton from Bristol moved from Montreal, Canada, to England to start a cuddling business that sees them [Trevor uses they/them pronouns] share warm embraces with total strangers in exchange for up to $85 an hour.
According to Trevor, who is also known as ‘Treasure’, the business venture allows people “to explore and enjoy non-sexual physical connection in a safe, structured environment.”
What’s more is that clear rules of engagement are set up before every session to ensure that the practice is safe both for the hugger and the clients.
“I built a business based on my passions for building human connections. Many people struggle to make those and that’s where I step in,” the professional hugger said.
Taking the idea a step further, Treasure gave life to cuddling parties during which multiple people gather in the same room to “provide value to lots of people at once.” Such parties involving multiple clients are also more affordable and cost the customers just $30 per hour.
“I’ve done four parties so far and each one has been unique and special in its own way. We have a very mixed group – some people are single and unfamiliar of touch but want to develop comfort,” Treasure added.
“On the other end of the spectrum, there are people who are used to being touched and want more of it. Either way the participants seem to walk away from it and love it.”
Besides cuddling sessions, Treasure’s business, Embrace Connections, offers a variety of other services including connections coaching which teaches people how to communicate and build healthy relationships.
“The first section of the party is a welcome and arrival and brief discussion of the expectations and boundaries of the space. Then we do a set of workshop activities to help people arrive in their own bodies and meet one another and learn to how to interact with one another,” Treasure said of the group cuddling initiative.
“This is important because if you were to just drop people in to this environment and say ‘have at it,’ there could be problems.”
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