Can a genuine, warm connection with another person facilitate healing and enhance your well-being? YES!
Relational Healing Through Trusted Touch and Connection - Allowing for a Corrective Emotional Experience
Michelle Renee - Therapeutic Intimacy Specialist
Offering Relational-Based Touch for Relational-Based Healing
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I collaborate with individuals of all genders, with a majority being single.
My focus is on clients seeking support related to body image, recovery from childhood sexual assault, and healing from mother wounds.
Clients are often looking for an emotionally corrective experience, making this an ideal environment for experiential learners.
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Navigating anxiety and depression
Developing social skills
Establishing boundaries, articulating needs, and desires
Gaining empowerment and healing from past trauma
Recovering from experiences of abuse and neglect, including sexual, physical, and emotional trauma
Enhancing self-esteem and addressing body image concerns
Breaking free from codependency and attachment issues in relationships
Reevaluating the concepts of consent and obligation, recognizing that early lessons about authority figures controlling our bodies can be challenging to un
Navigating anxiety and depression
Developing social skills
Establishing boundaries, articulating needs, and desires
Gaining empowerment and healing from past trauma
Recovering from experiences of abuse and neglect, including sexual, physical, and emotional trauma
Enhancing self-esteem and addressing body image concerns
Breaking free from codependency and attachment issues in relationships
Reevaluating the concepts of consent and obligation, recognizing that early lessons about authority figures controlling our bodies can be challenging to unlearn.
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A session begins with exploring your desired form of connection, a significant yet often challenging question for many clients. We will work together to uncover your needs from the outset. Throughout each session, I apply various exercises and coaching techniques organically, responding to what arises in the moment. My role is to help you slow down, remain present, and tune in to your body's truth during our time together. This process resembles a live experiment where we aim for authenticity, confronting fears in a safe environment that allows for risk-taking. As your comfort grows, we will gradually introduce new challenges at a pace that feels right for you. Consider our sessions as a form of therapy within the context of social interaction.
These sessions are referred to as “Foundations of Human Connection” and can last from 60 minutes to 3 hours, tailored to each client's needs and availability. We will explore this further during our intake call to make a collective decision. Typically, I suggest beginning with a 90-minute or 2-hour session.
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The next step is to contact me.
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It's hard to predict how many sessions you will need, but most people work with me for several months.
Cuddle Therapy and Human Connection Coaching are intense touch therapy processes for both the client and the practitioner. I aim to offer this work to underserved populations while avoiding burnout, so I can provide my best self to all clients. Therefore, I use a sliding scale fee structure, where those who can pay more help support those who can't. During our intake process, you’ll determine your rate. Please see rate information here.
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Cuddle therapy and human connection coaching don't require a talk therapist, but I think using both in conjunction is more effective. Some cases will require a collaborating therapist to proceed, depending on the goals and circumstances.
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"Reset your baseline" means helping your nervous system feel safe and secure. Our nervous systems grow from infancy, shaped by our main caregiver. If that caregiver is stressed or distracted, it can impact our development. Luckily, our brains can adapt, allowing us to change some of those early experiences. If you've experienced trauma or difficult relationships, your nervous system may not feel safe now. I focus on helping clients feel safer in their nervous system. With my guidance, you can become more comfortable in your body and with others, allowing you to carry that confidence into all your relationships.
If you have more questions, please check the FAQ. If you can't find the answer there, you can email your questions using 'Let's Connect.'
Meet Michelle Renee
I'm Michelle Renee (she/her), a therapeutic intimacy specialist, supporting clients across the country since 2015, with over 1,300 hours of hands-on sessions. With a background as a Certified Cuddlist® and a trained Surrogate Partner, I've seen my clients grow as they experience safety, trust, acceptance, and empowerment. I view my work as physical therapy for your emotional health. I aim to help you discover and love your true self, enabling you to share that love and acceptance with others repeatedly.
"[You are] the very smart trauma-informed [practioner] I’d most want to have a beer with because of your relatable and lively and playful self.”
“Few practitioners can blend their own humanity with their expertise as readily and sincerely as Michelle. Her openhearted, well-boundaried poise is the hallmark of her distinct brand of compassionate professionalism. Her character and practice model a soft power, firm courage, and guiding discipline that is aspirational to clients and colleagues alike.”
— Brandon Hunter-Haydon, MSW, CSE, RYT and Surrogate Partner
