Should a pro have certificate or license to be a pro .🤔

Ahmedali999

There are pro who don't need a training or certificate to be a pro,because they're friendly, wise,confident,literated, accepting any race,cultures and religions., and know basic knowledge about mental health especially excellent customer service, without good customer service anything can go wrong like violence. But in my opinion to be a pro should have certificate as a cuddle therapy ,basic knowledge about mental health,cultures,religions because they're are people who need cuddle some for emotional reasons,some have mental problems also for precaution reasons for both parties so nothing can go wrong.Like a security guard have license and basic knowledge about health and safety to protect people from any harm .I have nothing against pros all my pros are amazing wise,literated and have a good customer service. What's your opinion you can disagree if you like,but you don't like the topic don't comment.

I would lean toward no. They are primarily offering one service -- physical comfort -- they are not in the mental health field or meant to be doing psychotherapy. They aren't medical practitioners. If you need more than someone to hold you close for a couple of hours, if you really need someone trained and licensed as a therapist, you can find a professional in that line of work. Cuddle pros simply seem to be, for the most part, people who like to do this and found a way to make money off of it.

Ahmedali999

@WriterGF I agree with that. they have the right to make money because they arrange comfortable clean environment,+ they put alot efforts to thier profession,expenses ect give good care and service .and put all their energy to heal the Clint.

newbie2222

They are pros only because they get paid

Ahmedali999

@newbie2222 🤣🤣🤣 some not all my pro helped me mentally and I learned from her a lot. There are pro love to give love to others but they need money for thier expenses to praper clean comfortable environments for thier clients. Read this topic cuddle is best medicine for depression it worked for me https://www.cuddlecomfort.com/forum/discussion/11938/cuddle-is-best-medicine-for-depression-scientists-proved-it#latest

Sheena123

It’s definitely beneficial but I don’t think it should be a requirement. I’ve been a pro cuddler for almost two and a half years and even my cuddlers from day one would agree I wouldn’t need training. We aren’t therapists. We aren’t psychologists. We simply hold you in comforting ways. We learn along the way to talk with you and what makes you comfortable but from some of the courses I’ve seen, they don’t show you things you truly need to know considering every cuddler is different.

If it does become a requirement, I’ll get the training. Sure. I just know I won’t learn anything new that I don’t already know. A lot of it is self explanatory. But like I said, there’s no harm in having it. Especially for pros that are nervous or not as adaptable to different cuddlers.

Ahmedali999

@Sheena123 i agree with some of what you said the pro I met changed my life completely after I was dead and hopeless it might apply to some pro but not all here here is my experience with an amazing pro https://www.cuddlecomfort.com/forum/discussion/11925/how-cuddle-therapy-changed-my-life-and-become-positive-and-motivated-after-i-was-dead#latest

Melancholy

The problem is who would have the authority to issue certificates. The value of a certificate is questionable if it's not issued by an organization or entity with some standing and a reputation.
Remember all those scam universities that popped up selling certificates that didn't help anyone get a job but students ended up in debt.

Ahmedali999

@Melancholy waw good point here in England there are organisations for training cuddle therapy courses all my pro have certificates and basic knowledge about mental health. Also they know basic knowledge about cultures,religions and ready to meet any stranger especially from a different culture.

Ahmedali999

@Melancholy here's a link about organisation giving training and certificate to be a professional cuddler https://www.cuddle-professionals.co.uk/uk-cuddle-professionals

nurturingman

@Melancholy there are already longstanding, reputable certifying bodies. One of them is Cuddlist.

As to the money part, your luck can run from being certified and making no money to being non-Certified and raking it in. It’s harder for men, but there are exceptions to every rule.

Ironman294

IMHO we would lose many of the cuddlers here especially if it took a lot of time and also money to get said training and certification.
Besides the cuddliest certification was made up by cuddliest there is no school of cuddling like there are schools for massage therapy where they spend thousands of hours training.
Pro cuddlers provide comfort in holding and embracing you and providing conversation if so needed. Just being there is already a boost.
I have been more than happy with my sessions by different cuddlers.

Ahmedali999

@Ironman294 so far I had no issues with pros,all my pro are amazing qualified to be pros.
The courses they have done it didn't cost them alot money,max like $200 and it last just for 1 week.

Short answer to the OP question, yes. But I also think there should be a distinction between a paid cuddler and a pro cuddler. If we want this industry to go mainstream and commonly accepted, there need to be standards.

Edit: where I'm coming from:
I am a paint contractor in Indiana. Have been in the industry for 30 years. There are no licensing or certification requirements to do what I do. The loser is the customer who hires a low priced contractor who had friends or relatives be their "references". And then the customer has to hire someone like me to go and fix or finish the job. It happens a lot. Too much.

Ahmedali999

@creedhands hhmm very good point, but cuddling is a very sensitive and emotional, sometimes the person can be attracted to the pro,it's not for fun it's for precaution and emotional reasons. There're people maybe have mental problems and tru pro can do thier job professionally.also for safety for both parties. Like a security must have a licence to protect people from harm.

Mare_Bear

The training is very, very valuable and we are expected to act in place of mental health practitioners at times. Cuddlist training and ongoing support is a crucial for pros, I would love to see everyone calling themselves pro to have some training. Even if that is for their own personal safety around consent, boundaries, and screening.

Ahmedali999

@Mare_Bear you understand very well regards

cookiecrumb

@creedhands I had a contractor quote me $14000 to paint the exterior of my house. They're required to be licensed. I opted to do it myself. This is in CT. Maybe whoever I sell it to will want a pro to do it. It's just too much.

Or a cuddler pro could simply put prominently in their profile, "I am not a trained mental health professional. If that is what you require, please contact a licensed professional in your area," or words to that effect. Personally, I do not expect my cuddler to be my therapist, and if they are trying to do that without medical training, they could potentially do damage.

NicoSnuggs

Cuddle Sanctuary is an organization and website which I encourage everyone to visit and become familiar with.

On that site, there are multiple online training courses about cuddling and safety to help you become a better cuddler.

Most significantly is the fact that they offer a basic safety and cuddle position course (which takes you through 10+ different cuddle positions with demonstration) and the course is only $7.95.

I took it when I’m as starting out and it was very helpful. I encourage everyone interested in cuddling to look into it.

http://cuddlesanctuary.com/train-with-us/

xandriarain

I started on cuddle comfort with no training but I did have a bachelors degree in psychology so I had some basic knowledge of mental health. I also had a background in customer service. I would say one of the key differences between being a professional cuddler and working in a customer service role is you do have to put your foot down and set boundaries more with cuddling clients and sometimes you have to say no a lot more so than you would in a customer service role. Earlier this year I finally decided to join Cuddlist and I found the training to be very helpful although some of it I felt like I learned from experience and trial and error and I wish I had received when I first started cuddling.

I often think about the future of the cuddling profession. I think at a certain point there will need to be more barriers to entry in order to avoid oversaturation So getting some sort of certification or license will be necessary. I also think that if cuddling becomes more main stream there could be more regulations which would require licensing/certification.

nurturingman

@Ironman294 “Besides the [Cuddlist] certification was made up by [Cuddlist] there is no school of cuddling like there are schools for massage therapy where they spend thousands of hours training.” True, there’s a difference between earning a certificate from a school and one from another certifying body. And there are no cuddling schools that take thousands of hours to complete.

Ahmedali999

@WriterGF @xandriarain very true especially I agree more with @xandriarain it's very good and safe for both clients and pros very amazing points

cuddles_ndream

Personally I don’t think they have to … kindness & compassion is not something you learn, it is who you are & comes from within, should there be training on how to vet potential clients & for safety reasons ect than that would be nice, thankfully there are several pros here who are passionate about sharing their experiences & knowledge with newcomers to teach them the ropes & what signs to look for ect for possible bookings … no for mandatory certificates or license, but should a pro decide to get further training for their craft than yes, I think we as clients have a responsibility to be respectful in every sense of the word to make the professionals & other enthusiasts feel safe & welcome … maybe some clients need some training & certification on how to be a decent human being from the stories we see at times … but again, a respectful person does not need a certification to certify them as decent.

Ahmedali999

@cuddles_ndream I have no issue with pros at all , all my pros are amazing only I made this discussion because in the discussions I used to read there are clients have problems with pros and pros have problems with clients example about boundaries ect .also it's good and safe for both pros and clients. Can you see a security guard with no license . Pros should have policies and clients should respect them. Sometimes bad customer service something can go wrong.

ElleCuddleMi

@newbie2222 actually it's more than just being paid to cuddle, we serious pros feel passionate about helping others as well as make cuddling a career we love. I personally do this for a living and even opened a clinic to cuddle in because there are health benefits to this as well.

Ahmedali999

@cuddles_ndream there are pros don't need any training but also there pros need training.

Ahmedali999

@newbie2222 I just copy paste what @CuddleDuncan wrote.
Laundry, travel, makeup, clothes and all that stuff are obviously things we all do and which you need for any ordinary job. But cuddling isn't an ordinary job for two reasons. Firstly, you get physically close to the client, as close as it's possible to get. This requires a much higher standard of personal grooming and cleanliness than pretty much any job other than surgeon. For example, you have to change clothes between clients because clothes pick up the natural scent of the previous clients. If the professional is hosting, then clean sheets and towels have to available for each client: the amount of laundry rapidly becomes terrifying.

(As an aside, when I mentioned travel I was thinking of professionals in London who use multiple therapy rooms, and have to travel between them. They are all centrally located and so there is no charge to the client. Here in the UK a return commute is not an allowable expense, but travelling between work centres is.)

Secondly, cuddling professionally is intensely emotionally demanding. One of the ways that these emotional demands can be met is by maintaining a certain amount of emotional distance. In practice, one of the ways of achieving this is by simple tricks such as dressing in a different style - or even merely in different items of clothing - when working.

Having said all that, for a non-hosting up and running cuddler, the incremental expenses for a single session are modest. The biggest single cost is the time. Not so much for the session itself, which is relatively short, but all the time dealing with clients, prospective clients and timewasters. All that adds up to much more than than the session times.

Babichev

I can speak on this a bit from a legal point of view having watched my own profession go from non-regulated.

Professional licensing is, in the U.S., the jurisdiction of the states. It would take a LOT of organization on the part of professional cuddlers to become licensed. That is unlikely to happen any time soon.

The term “certification” is only meaningful if there is a bona fide certifying body. There isn’t one and, again, it would take a lot of organization among pro cuddlers to achieve that.

People use the term “certified” in a sloppy and not legal manner if they take some training with someone who then gives them a certificate verifying they took this training. ANYONE can do this - I could give a one hour lecture, then issue a certificate to whoever attended, and they could (erroneously) call themselves “certified.” It is not a certification.

Essentially it’s buyer beware. If a pro cuddler misbehaves there is no one to report them to unless they were booked through this site, then they can get banned from this site. Unless they do something illegal, in which case one can report them to the local police but often that leads to nowhere unless it’s really bad.

I know there are some trainings out there and one could investigate the quality of those trainings and keep that in mind when looking for a pro. It seems the best bet at this point is interviewing them and deciding whether they seem fit for the client’s needs.

Looking through pro profiles, it seems a small minority take their role as a pro cuddler seriously. It seems a lot of people who are giving this a shot, hope to make some money. Looking through pro profiles and seeing how many completely lack any karma, I’m left wondering how many actually see many, if any, clients.

I hope I am not coming off too discouraging, I’m just reporting what I see and what I know about the legality of professional licensing, certifications, etc.

One option that I have no idea whether it is feasible or not is whether some individuals already trained in a mental health field - like a LCSW or MCSW - would consider offering cuddle therapy and if this would be accepted in their field as a sub-specialty? I don’t know.

That’s my two cents for now.

morefun21

As a licensed massage therapist my short answer is yes.

For the long term benefit and proliferation of paid for cuddling, yes there should be standards and licensing developed. This protects both the public and professional cuddlers. Cuddling is a therapy modality that unfortunately is not understood by the public at large. The fact that there are warnings on this site that cuddle sessions are not meant for sexual services goes to show how easy it is to conflate the two.

Massage suffered from this same problem, which is a major reason why licensing was developed for it in the first place. Massage therapy is not sex work. Professional cuddling is not sex work.

Forbid those boundaries are ever crossed, there would be a lot more difficulty for a professional cuddler to get legal support and protection. Imagine telling the legal system you're a "professional cuddler" and this person came over and paid me to "cuddle"

To people here that may sound silly, but to everyone else it sounds exactly like a euphemism. In the same way "massage" is still used as a euphemism for sex work in spite of licensing. But at least with a licensed massage therapist there is a legal expectation and standard of only therapeutic massage services. This is unfortunately not true with professional cuddling.

It would also encourage (primarily women) to be more trusting of professional male cuddlers and allow for stronger referral networks to be established between other licensed therapeutic providers of different modalities. Imagine being referred by your psychotherapist to see a cuddle therapist.

Women do pay for cuddling much less than men, but imagine how therapeutic it could be for a woman that has experienced trauma to be cuddled by a trusted and licensed professional male.

Not to mention it could allow for more people to be able to access professional cuddling through their insurance. Massage therapy still struggles with this, but the truth is for many people out there professional cuddling (and many other therapeutic services) is not affordable without insurance.

There is nothing wrong with things like cuddling, massage, sex, etc. Consenting people should be able to practice and enjoy all of these things, but paid for work should be licensed and regulated. There is unfortunately too much opportunity for abuse and misconduct otherwise.

Licensing is the only realistic way for professional cuddling to become accepted as a mainstream practice that is healthy and safe for everyone involved.

Babichev

Regarding bona fide certifying bodies: Certifying bodies must be independent from schools and training programs. Cuddlist, for instance, can offer training and then issue a certificate that says someone took their training but they are not an independent certifying body. This title of “certified” is misused in my own profession.

This article helps explain the difference.

https://www.asha.org/ce/ceus/professional-certification-vs-certificate-program/