No, Daytop had none of that going on. I remember being pulled up for not having a pillow cushion worth of space between me and a boy who was seated next to me on the couch at the Day facility. In the residential I remember that for movies especially and some other gatherings which were not in circles and rows considerations were made for boys being seated away from girls.
The closest we had to that was a hug it out. This would be called for without plan (as far as I know) by staff, typically following something confrontational like a haircut that got particularly harsh, but which also then in their minds came to a conclusion which called for us hugging the crying person who had just thanked us for tearing them to shreds. I also saw this hug it out (which to be clear was unlike Smooshing in any way) in various group settings, though not routinely. We did occasionally have weird huddles in some of the more tearful groups, but in my scant memories of these (maybe as few as two instances that I remember) everyone is on their knees with their arms slung over the next person's shoulders surrounding a person (like a prayer circle or football guys or something) as the person in the middle was going through it (sobbing after some prolonged screaming at an empty chair sort of role play IIRC).
I have considered (from what I’ve read and been told of this) smooshing to be one of the most fascinatingly weird rituals to come out of CEDU. While I don’t think (though I have not actually researched this possibility) that there is any connection between this and some of the extremists proponents of the spurious *attachment therapies* methods which also were/are boundary breaking bonding with forced holding, I do agree with your assessment that this phenomenon is an exemplar of what cultic experts have called love bombing. From what I’ve read this milieu was often exploited by various staff members. And isn’t CEDU where that psychiatrist (Forgey, I think) who was later indicted on child rape charges (while sharing his patients at another location—with his child killer roommate) came from?
There are grownups who participate in a similar (though not creepily coerced) activity of what are called cuddle or snuggle parties. This link was interesting considering their emphasis.
http://www.cuddleparty.com/. This Link had a funny video
http://www.babelgum.com/clips/4021782 It’s certainly not the same as what was done at CEDU and I for damn sure won’t be attending one.
Everyone could benefit from a hug now and again, but not from a pile of strangers and not in the environment that was fostered at CEDU.
