Effie Dreamon opens the door of her apartment located in southern Philadelphia, and welcomes her exotic visitor, who will cuddle her for the next hour. Dreamon, 24, who works as an "hug specialist", receives her visitor saying, "I'm so excited." As for the visitor, Rashida, who is a divorced mother, has two children, and she is 42 years old, and she came to Dreamon from Glenside.
Dreamon is one of five people in Philadelphia who provide personalized hugging services for $ 80 an hour. They are part of the Cuddlist, which was created four years ago and offers "touch remedial methods", according to the company's website. There are smaller companies that own two hugging factors, too, but Cadillist considers itself the largest American company in this field.
According to Adam Libin, the founding member of the company, the company has 200 hugging employees across the country, including those who allow customers to come to their homes, and others go where customers want, to provide hug services.
The session usually lasts 90 minutes, Libin says. He adds that his clients include "a wide range of people", including those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or large material losses, and pariahs and need to communicate with others, tense college students, and people with Asperger syndrome.
Hug specialists receive three-week online training on cross-acceptance and limits. Hug workers keep the session fees, and pay the company about $ 40 a month to remain registered as hug service practitioners.