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Clinical Conversation

Cuddle Therapy and the Loneliness Crisis: What Clinicians Need to Know

Guest: Keeley Shoup
Live Training: July 15th | 1:00 PM Central Time 
On-Demand: Replay available within one week of the live event for all who register

How do you ethically integrate platonic touch into trauma‑informed work when your clients are lonely, touch‑starved, and struggling to feel safe with others?

Join us for a free, clinically grounded conversation with cuddle therapy practitioner and Cuddlist CEO Keeley Shoup, as we look at what every EMDR and trauma therapist needs to understand about consent‑based touch, attachment, and the loneliness crisis.

Together, we’ll explore how cuddle therapy can fit alongside EMDR therapist training, trauma therapist training, and EMDR consultant certification work so you can better support clients whose nervous systems are craving safe connection.

 In this conversation, we will explore:

  • What cuddle therapy actually is (and isn’t) -How consent‑based, platonic touch differs from sexual touch, energy work, or coaching, and where it belongs in a trauma‑informed treatment plan.
  • When cuddle therapy may be clinically indicated -How to recognize clients whose loneliness, touch deprivation, or relational distress are blocking progress in EMDR and other trauma therapies.
  • Ethical and scope‑of‑practice questions clinicians are asking - How to talk with clients about referral, boundaries, liability, and documentation when you collaborate with a cuddle therapist.
  • Bridging talk therapy and embodied care - Ways to coordinate with a trained cuddle practitioner so your EMDR and trauma work has a safe, regulated body‑based counterpart.
  • Consent, boundaries, and client autonomy in practice - How somatic, consent‑centered touch work can reinforce what you already teach about choice, safety, and nervous system regulation.
  • Interdisciplinary collaboration that actually works - Real‑world examples of how Keeley partners with licensed clinicians across the U.S. to address attachment injury, trauma, and chronic isolation.

This is a live, interactive Clinical Conversation with chat and Q&A. Bring your questions, your clinical doubts, and your most complex cases involving loneliness and touch.

Therapist Crystal Hines standing by a window smiling, promoting her clinical conversation event on ‘Rethinking the IFS Hierarchy’ hosted by the Trauma Therapist Institute.
Register for free now + join our free membership community!

These Conversations Are Always Free to Attend

Every Clinical Conversation at Trauma Therapist Institute is offered at no cost, because staying grounded, skilled, and connected as a trauma therapist should not sit behind a paywall. Whether you join us live or watch the replay, these sessions are our ongoing gift to the EMDR and trauma community.

When you register for this event, you also join our Free Trauma Therapist Membership, which gives you:

  • Ongoing Clinical Conversations on topics like EMDR therapist training, trauma therapist training, and EMDR consultant certification
  • A private online community of therapists where you can ask questions, share wins, and feel less alone in the work
  • Access to the TTI mobile app so you can catch live sessions or recordings on your schedule
  • A growing library of handouts, worksheets, and tools created specifically for trauma clinicians

You do not need a credit card to join. If you cannot attend live, register anyway and we will send the full replay straight to your inbox.

 

About Guest, Keeley Shoup

Crystal Hines, licensed professional counselor and founder of Align Therapy and Consultation, smiling in a white top while standing by a window. Text beside her outlines her services including EMDR and IFS consultation, private practice coaching, and trauma-informed workshops. A call-to-action button below invites users to check out Crystal’s IFS courses.

Keeley Shoup is the CEO of Cuddlist, a cuddle therapy practitioner of more than ten years, and a leading voice in consent‑based, platonic touch work. She collaborates closely with licensed therapists across the United States to support clients who are navigating loneliness, touch deprivation, trauma, and relational distress.

Keeley specializes in bridging talk therapy and embodied care so clinicians can see where cuddle therapy may function as an ethical, trauma‑informed adjunct to traditional treatment.

Her somatically focused work centers:

  • Clear, ongoing consent
  • Firm but compassionate boundaries
  • Client autonomy and nervous system safety 

With a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and clinical best practices, Keeley helps EMDR therapists, trauma therapists, and EMDR consultants think more clearly about how safe touch and structured connection can support their clients’ healing.

You can learn more about her work at keeleyshoup.com and on her social channels as Your Cuddle Therapist.

Visit Keeley Shoups website here!

This isn’t a webinar. It’s a real conversation. Honest. Raw. Clinically useful.


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