Asheville business hopes to help others — with a little cuddling

By Kristen Aguirre

Click here for updates on this story

    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Between isolation and masking, the human connection during the COVID-19 pandemic might feel a little off for some people. Now, an Asheville business aims to get that back on track through human touch.

“I was very nervous, very apprehensive. I was not sure about the whole concept of it,” Hold Me AVL customer Mouse Wilson said.

Wilson said his initial trepidation to therapeutic cuddling is now long gone.

“I was very nervous, very apprehensive. I was not sure about the whole concept of it,” Hold Me AVL customer Mouse Wilson said.

Shir started the business as a side hustle, but it grew until it now financially supports her.

“Touch is fairly taboo if you’re not in a romantic partnership or you don’t have a close family,” Shir said. “A lot of people are undertouched.”

From that thought, Shir said, the idea for therapeutic cuddling was born.

“I saw the need, I saw a lot of people wanting and craving connection through touch and not knowing how to get it other than potentially Tinder and hookups,” Shir said.

Shir said therapeutic cuddling is completely platonic, and simply what you see — cuddling.

“It’s similar to a therapy session. I’m there to listen, give reflective feedback, I give empathy,” Shir said.

While not an actual therapist, Shir does do healing work, Wilson said.

“I’m there, really, for the therapeutic side,” Shir said. “I will ask deep questions.”

“I have touch trauma, previously,” Wilson said. “I had a very abusive childhood. And being able to have a space where I can touch and be touched and working on consent and boundaries, it’s really helped me get over a lot off my insecurities.”

“During COVID, the majority of us were at home or working and masked, not seeing faces, not having those types of connections that we might otherwise be having,” Shir said.

Shir said she is seeing more clients as COVID-19 numbers trend in the right direction.

“I think a lot of people were seeking friendship, connection and touches without it having to be romantic,” Shir said.

Simple, human connections.

“People were extremely lonely, extremely undertouched,” Shir said.

“It’s comforting the lack of expectation, knowing there’s nothing, it’s not going to be sexual,” Wilson said

Once a skeptic

“It seemed absurd and ridiculous,” Wilson said.

Now Wilson is a believer.

“All people deserve touch. It doesn’t matter what color, what financial background is, how we grew up, but everyone is deserving of touch,” Shir said.

Shir’s clients range from early 20s to early 80s. She also has male, female, transgender and non-binary clients.

Shir said everyone is welcome at Hold Me AVL.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.