The Touch Project is held at the Old Diorama Arts Centre

“I HAVE to be careful about using the C-word – it may not sound very professional,” says touch therapist Kathy Breidenbach.

“I should use the word embrace therapy.”

The “C-word” Ms Breidenbach refers to is “cuddle”.

An NHS peer coach by training, Ms Breidenbach launched the Touch Project in 2021, a workshop devoted to the therapeutic “power” of physical contact.

Every Thursday, a small group of people meet at the Old Diorama Arts Centre in Regent Place – close to Great Portland Street tube – to participate in “consensual platonic touch”.

The group also meets on the last Sunday of the month. Run through ticket sales with concessions for people struggling to pay, and funding from Camden Giving and the council, the project aims to reduce loneliness and improve the wellbeing of its participants.

“There’s increasing research showing the power of touch – it’s normal and natural and should be treated like one of your five-a-day,” Ms Breidenbach said.

The sessions involve a series of exercises including guided meditation, talking therapy and massage, “like a hand massage or a shoulder massage,” Ms Breidenbach said. Participants “do not have to touch or be touched, they could sit out the whole time,” she added.

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As an NHS worker, Ms Breidenbach noticed that her “clients pretty much across the board suffered terribly with loneliness and social isolation”, adding: “We are one of the loneliest countries in the world – we’re one of the very few countries that has a Minister for Loneliness. I think some people go years, literally years [without being touched].”

“When I started my therapeutic training, I started with massage ­therapy, because I think that people need touch. If babies don’t get touched, they can literally die – so how come it’s different for adults?”

There are clear rules to keep people safe and there is no touching in “bikini” areas.

“If you can have a hug for 30 seconds, it releases enough oxytocin to reduce your stress hormones for the day,” Ms Breidenbach said.

“But we British have to practise this stuff, because we have a two-second hug. We need to practise taking a few breaths together. I think we’ve still got some very Victorian ideas about touch and contact and personal space. And it’s fine to have your personal space, I’m just suggesting people choose their personal space.”

Kathy Breidenbach

The project is not associated with the NHS, Ms Breidenbach said, adding: “The NHS has such rigid structures and to create something like this within the NHS, a doctor told me it would be an ‘administrative nightmare’.”

She said the workshops, which are run as a “safe space”, also help people develop boundaries.

“We practise saying no, because very often in our life we don’t get to practise saying no – as children, all sorts of people touch us or pat us on the head, and we’re not taught ‘no’.” But healthy platonic touch can bring mental and physical health benefits, Ms Breidenbach said.

“The best drugs in the world are the drugs we produce in our own minds and bodies – serotonin, oxytocin, dopamine and endorphins.”

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