VIU Psychology Students Launch Free Hug Project

By Fran Pacchiano

Nov 20, 2023

Taia Matchett and her team of four second-year psychology students on VIU’s Nanaimo campus are launching their free hug project this week as an experiment for their Research Methods class. The project is only a couple days long, but it is quickly becoming a bright spot in these last dark days of the semester. 

The campaign involves a short survey about student’s responses to physical touch and how it relates to their self-efficacy. “The purpose is…highlighting the lack of physical touch and emotional connection for university students.” The findings and the team’s reflections on the research will be written as a research paper for the class in early December. 

Matchett notes that many of the student experiences, like living away from family for the first time, struggling with school workload, and changing relationships, can be difficult and physical touch can counter that. 

“[A] physical connection can … lead to emotional safety.” High fives were offered to students who didn’t want a hug, but still wanted that connection. Consent and comfort are things Matchett’s team have taken into consideration. The group wants to give genuine hugs and form connections with strangers, which they would not be able to do if those interactions were forced. 

“Not everybody’s comfortable with that kind of connection….We’re not just thinking about our participants; we’re thinking about our experimenters.” For the comfort of her team members, Matchett has enlisted the help of her friend Julie Niyitegeka to give some of the hugs. 

Niyitegeka was born in Rwanda and moved to Canada at 16 to attend Pearson College in Victoria. The school was small and the students there were comfortable expressing physical affection. “The shock for me was when I came to VIU in 2018 and quickly realized that people don’t hug all the time.” 

Niyitegeka was part of the student body who lived in VIU’s residence during the Covid pandemic. To cope in isolation, she was intentionally caring with the people in her bubble. “I never felt like I was deprived of physical touch because I had a good friend group and we made sure to hug each other and to be there for one another.”

Her interest in the free hug project is to share love with students and to uplift them. “I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t get any physical touch. They’re not good at initiating hugs.” 

Touch is a huge part of being a healthy person. Current research shows that it “transmits a sense of being accepted” as well as combating loneliness. As the world continues to grow out of the pandemic, the long-term effects of isolation are coming to light. Being touch-starved and the importance of non-sexual touch is increasingly a topic of conversation.

Robyn Wilson, a Campus Ministry Associate who works closely with students, says physical touch is essential for all of us. “It’s most significant when it’s absent. When students don’t get any physical touch because they’re not in a romantic relationship, and they’ve moved away from their family it can leave a real gap.” 

Building community and finding safe people to hug and share non-sexual touch is a healthy way to cope, however, people who don’t have that, or who don’t know how to access that, can turn to other more dangerous ways of coping including self-harm. 

This is why projects like Matchett’s are vital for raising awareness. Coming out of isolation to have a genuine connection with others, even strangers, can make a huge difference in our disposition. 

Matchett says, “Even just the offering of that: Do you need a free hug?  People light up [and say] ‘I actually do. I do need a free hug today.’”