You’re more than ready to change lives through professional cuddling. Let me help you do it.


If you're reading this, chances are you’ve known about professional cuddling for a while–possibly years even. You’ve been doing research and you want to be a part of this field. Maybe, just maybe, this is even your life’s work.

But for some reason, despite all the time you’ve spent learning about professional cuddling, you haven’t started.

It's frustrating because you know there are so many people out there that need this (you would never have even looked into this if you thought otherwise!). In fact, you know you could be really freaking good at this! You are compassionate, kind and empathetic (not to mention, you like cuddling, lol!). You’ve literally been looking up information and preparing yourself to finally dive in for so long. But real logistics keep holding you back.

You know that you can do this and that you could change lives for the better through professional cuddling!

But instead of diving into this work, you’ve been:

  • Disappointed that you’ve been visiting the same few cuddle sites, yet you still don't have clients
  • Nervous about applying or signing up for a training program
  • Lacking confidence on how prepared you are to have sessions
  • Feeling stuck when you realize most cuddle businesses require you to be your own boss
  • Scared of what your neighbors or your community might think of you and if you’re secretly doing something more– *ahem* – "explicit" with clients
  • Worried that there’s no real market for cuddlers in your area and wondering if there’s even anyone looking for a professional cuddler near you
  • Fearing that you might do it *wrong* or that you don’t have everything you need
  • Avoiding pulling the trigger on joining a course (like this!), saying you'll join it the next time it's offered... 

Listen, I understand all of these concerns.

I get why you would hesitate to move forward in this industry, giving all the bullets above (PS. these are REAL WORDS from REAL PEOPLE that I get to my inbox every day!)

You are trying to do things the right away, and I appreciate that, because ethics are extremely important in this work. After all, we can be working with the most tender parts of people.

The truth is I didn't do upfront research that you are trying to do, and I learned the hard way that I needed to be thinking about things a little bit more thoroughly than I was.

I leaped head-first into my first cuddle session– and then I started asking questions I desperately needed answers to urgently! It was stressful, and got messy quick.

(I'll admit it, that was not my best move)

There are so many questions I wish I got answered before I started. You may be asking yourself these same things:

  • How do I stay safe doing this?
  • What do I do if my client doesn't feel safe/comfortable while doing this?
  • What are we supposed to do in sessions??? Do we just cuddle in silence the whole time?? #awkward
  • What do I do if the client doesn't know what they want?
  • How do I even find clients?
  • How do I get them to come back??

I want to reinforce that all of your hesitations around getting started as a cuddler are valid.


In fact, I’d even say you not starting yet is not your fault.

Professional cuddling has only been around for about 20 years in the United States, after all. 

There’s only a handful of people that are very public about their work (I know many of them!). So their experience may not be the same as your experience in this work.

And even if you resonate with the people you've seen or read about in professional cuddling, one thing might still stand out when you see these articles, videos, and posts…

The dreaded comments sections.

So many people are still skeptical about this industry. Some are convinced professional cuddling can’t possibly be platonic. Some might say it’s absolutely ridiculous and you should just get a dog if you need cuddles that bad. Some may even claim that professional cuddlers are taking advantage of lonely people.

Or worse… some might think that this work isn’t safe and that you’ll be in danger for offering it.

Maybe when you read these comments you’re wondering, "Is that true?"

If you are not properly prepared, all of these assumptions can actually be true.


But with the proper training, professional business systems and heart-centered focused service, you'll have answers to all of these concerns and the confidence to move forward.


Professional cuddling can be a boundary-focused, platonic, safe (for both parties) healing modality that can greatly improve people's lives. But much care has to go in to the building of your practice, and it's hard to find the information on how to properly to do that.


Well...I wanted to create support. So...here we are!


Hi there. I'm Sam Varnerin.


I’ve been a professional cuddler for over seven years, and I’ve come a long way from when I first started.

In my first year in business, I was too scared to admit to almost anyone I was doing professional cuddling! And worse, so many people came to see me and pushed my boundaries physically and emotionally.

The next year? I didn’t know how to talk to anyone about this work. I even got kicked out of a networking event at one point (they were convinced I was “not platonic”)!

Meanwhile, most of my cuddle sessions felt good but…I struggled to get people to come back.


Sure, I was good at cuddling, being professional, and being empathetic and conversational with my clients. But I kept getting told “You’re a nice girl and I enjoyed cuddling with you,” and then I never saw them again.

What was wrong? Was I actually helping people? I questioned this knowing I was helping people somewhat, but I was barely able to sustain my professional cuddle practice.

It wasn’t until my third year when I learned what I was missing.

Most people needed a different type of emotional connection than what they normally experience on a day-to-day basis. Rather than just validating my clients' emotions, I was really trying to understand my clients' world and how they experienced life. 

When I started changing how I connected with my clients, they started to come back. I was able to give them something in a cuddle session that they simply couldn't find anywhere else.


Suddenly, my clients weren't just coming to cuddle with my body (let's be honest, this can be part of it without a deeper meaning to your work.) As I understood the very intricate art and emotional piece of this work, my entire practice changed.


Not only was I now seen as a professional in the eyes of my clients, but I was understood and respected by my friends, family and peers. I felt like I had a real career again.


I finally had confidence in what I was doing.

Looking back, when I was just frantically trying to figure this out, I wasted so much time, money and energy on things that I thought were good business investments.

It's really hard to know what will work in this industry or where to focus because this is such an UNSATURATED industry and the education is simply not there (yes, I said unsaturated--we need more of us cuddlers!).

Every week I get emails about how to get started in this work. I’ve struggled on where to point them because most courses only cover select sections of this work. This means you are typically left with even more confusion and questions after only learning about a niche topic.

I never came across a real straightforward and all-encompassing guide for finding success as a cuddler, both in sessions and as a business owner (BOTH are critical to finding success in this industry).

So after lots of searching for a good comprehensive course on all things cuddling to no avail, I decided to make it myself. That is how Snuggle School was born.

Snuggle School is a 7-week course to get you started with professional cuddling with all the tools and support you need to start your practice strong and with confidence that you’re doing the right things.

Class starts February 13th 2023!

Through Snuggle School, you’ll get:

  • access to the course for life

  • weekly lessons with videos and transcriptions covering the topics listed below

  • exercises each week to help you shape your own way of running sessions and building your business, along with policies based on what the field recognizes

  • weekly office hours with me for the 7-week program 

  • ...and what I am MOST excited about! 2 special guest speakers (more info below!)

Snuggle School's Program Modules:

Week 1: What it means to be a professional cuddler

While on the surface professional cuddling seems pretty straightforward, what it actually means to be in this work is more complex than most people realize. In this first week, you’ll learn about what is expected of you in professional cuddling, why it might be different from any other job role you’ve ever taken on, and what’s possible for you and your future clients through this work.


Week 2: Managing yourself and your clients’ expectations in professional cuddling

Even if we know what we’re doing and how to do it, the hardest part about professional cuddling is providing the right balance of speaking up for yourself and showing compassion toward your clients in the moment. We’ll talk about the foundation of managing expectations for your clients as far as your time, your energy, and how you’ll show up for them in a cuddle session. This starts well before you even meet your client and carries into almost every other aspect of your cuddle practice.


Week 3: Qualifying and Educating a Potential Client (finding the right fit for both client and cuddler)

What do you need to know about your client in order to feel safe? We’ll talk about the key questions to ask, evaluate what you require for your own safety, and address potential biases you might not realize you have that may have nothing to do with your own safety. If you want to make your client screening more inclusive, this is it.


Week 4: Getting ready for your first session

Professional cuddling is easy, right? We just… cuddle and that’s it, right? Well, yes and no. We talk about clothing options, how to remind your client they scheduled a session, getting payment, how to prepare your cuddle space and how to handle safety with working out of your home or someone else’s home. We’ll even show you from start to finish how a session can look!

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: ANNA JOY!

Anna Joy Reedy found herself drawn to cuddling in early 2015. She has trained with Betty Martin, Sam Hess, and Jean Franzblau, and has completed advanced training with Cuddlist, for whom she facilitates a monthly practitioner call for site members. She currently has a private therapeutic touch practice in Seattle, and is growing a separate but related Somatic Experiencing practice, which offers embodied trauma resilience work. 

Anna Joy will be covering touch and somatic exercises that support body-awareness for you and your clients that allow your sessions to be more impactful and valuable than your average cuddle session.


Week 5: Creating deep connections with your clients

This is the secret sauce to add more depth to your sessions. When clients are seeking connection, they also want to feel connected to someone emotionally, not just physically. We talk about how to really be with them without overextending your role as a professional cuddler, some basic skillsets on how to de-escalate yourself and your clients, and how to keep your relationships professional with your clients while doing all of this. 


Week 6: Making Following Up Automatic and Natural

You can be the most amazing cuddler and still not have people coming back to see you if they forget about you. This week we go over how to handle follow up with every single client, how to open up the conversation for future sessions, and holding boundaries around your time for those that update you but don’t book with you again. This is the single most important thing to master for a long-term sustainable practice with clients that you can go deep with and help more.

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: SARAH COOK (SAM'S PROJECT MANAGER AND EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT!)

Join us this week to hear from Sarah Cook, Sam's personal business manager, to get a behind the scenes look at how a successful full-time cuddle business runs!

Sarah has 10 years of experience running a business full-time and has mentored 100's of other business owners to successfully hit their goals as well.


Week 7: Helping the People That Need You, Find You

You are an amazing cuddler, wonderful human being, and anyone would be lucky to have you as a professional cuddler. Now they just need to know you exist so they can work with you. We’ll talk through the various methods I’ve found that have helped me through the years with having people find me. You’ll learn how “internet real estate” has helped my impact and my reach of the right people compound over time, and how you can start implementing some of these today to begin making an impact now.


Common FAQ's:

When does it start?
Snuggle School starts on February 13th, 2023. All the lessons are pre-recorded and kept in our teaching platform, so you are able to work through the lessons at your own pace. There are weekly office hours on Wednesdays from 2pm-3pm EST, and those are also recorded and put into the course for your access.

How much of a time commitment?
Sam suggests you put about 2 hours a week on your calendar to go through lessons. There is also an hour a week for office hours (and Sam highly recommends you come to as many as you can!) so you can account for that as well. You will also have lifetime access to the lessons, so you can review them as often as you need!

How much does it cost?
There are two payment options. You can either pay for the course in full for $1997, or you can choose a payment plan option of $347 a month for 6 months.

Are classes and lessons live?
All lessons are pre-recorded so you can go through the course at your convenience. However, the office hours/Q and A with Sam and the guest speakers are live online, so there is plenty of time to get live feedback and coaching on what you are working on!

When are you offering Snuggle School again?
Historically, we offer Snuggle School once a year. That would mean it would not open up again until next February. However, we can't guarantee the price will be the same or exactly when it will open back up. The guest speakers may also be different.

Can I be a cuddler without this course?
Of course you can be. But the question I would ask you is if you haven't started yet, or seen the momentum you want to see, what are you going to do to change that? Yes, there are other courses out there, and you can always learn from the school of hard knocks, but Snuggle School is designed to be comprehensive and give you literally all. the. steps. you need to finally build your business. Are you in?

From past students:
When I signed up for snuggle school, I was in a real rut in my cuddling practice; I was at the point where I wasn’t sure if I could continue to stay afloat as a full-time cuddle therapist much longer. When I first started cuddling, I was an overnight success because I was young and pretty, and I was the “new kid on the block”. I had the attitude that I was gracing clients with my presence rather than truly being present for them. In Snuggle School, Sam set me straight, she taught me how to add value to my clients' lives and how to show up for them and hold space in a session. She helped reshape the way I approached my practice, and thanks to her mentorship, I was able to not only stay afloat but also open a second location within a few months of taking her course. -Xandria Schaeffer, Cuddleworks.net
"Sam is a thoughtful, thorough teacher and facilitator who has been around the block in the professional cuddling world. She delights in sharing her knowledge and experience with her students. I very much appreciate the effort and intention she puts into creating comprehensive yet concise course material, and I admire her emotionally intelligent approach to interacting with clients." -Chris Hallet