You don’t need to shrink yourself to find your tribe.
Joy comes from unmasking and finding those who celebrate the you that you are.
About Glen
The path to healing isn’t about fixing who you are.
It’s about remembering who you’ve always been.
I’m Glen Bradley (they/Glen). I’m queer, gay, and neurodivergent.
I live in DC with my husband, two rambunctious rescue dogs, and a lot of plants. I love to cook, read manga, dance, hike, camp, and explore mindfulness and consciousness. Once upon a time, I did drag in DC as “Ms. Shirley Gay” (yes, I love a good pun). Before becoming a therapist, I worked in queer non-profits and later in government consulting—though anyone who knows me now laughs at that last part.
Growing up, I found my spark in Irish step dance, Tae Kwon Do, and camping—even when those spaces weren’t always safe or affirming. I earned my Eagle Scout and my black belt, and I survived 17 years of Catholic school (Kindergarten through Bachelors). I know what it’s like to have a group but still feel like you don’t belong. Being queer, gay, and neurodivergent wasn’t the hard part—it was being treated like I had to change to be accepted.
It took years to unlearn that I had to shrink to be loved. The truth is, my quirks are my compass. Once I stopped masking and started living from my core, I found people who celebrated me. That’s the heart of my work now—helping others unmask, reclaim their spark, and feel at home in their bodies and communities.
About “Gestalt”
It’s not just a type of therapy—it’s a way of life.
“Gestalt” is an old German word meaning “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” In therapy, it means you are more than a diagnosis, a past story, or any one feeling or identity. You are not just your parts—you are the whole, dynamic you that emerges from how those parts move, interact, and live together.
Gestalt therapy doesn’t label or fix you. It doesn’t ask you to fit in. Instead, it invites you to notice what’s present, reconnect with your power, and meet life as it is—with honesty, curiosity, and freedom.
Gestalt is a very different type of therapy. It’s less about talking and more about experimenting with power and change. Rather than pushing away or analyzing your feelings, we learn how to be with them, speak to them, and move with them.
It’s not about becoming someone else. It’s about coming home to who you already are—beneath the masking, the burnout, and the freeze.
Neuroscience of Embodiment
Gestalt attunes to the neuroscience of connection,
embodied experience, and moving past trauma.
There’s a lot of pressure in our lives and culture to rely mainly on the “thinking, analyzing, judging, planning, organizing” brain (aka “left brain”). This left brain way of being is quite susceptible to inner harshness, pressure to fit in, and disempowerment. For many of us, we do enough “thinking” and more of that won’t move what’s there—we need more embodied and energetic consciousness that’s waiting for us in our “right brain.”
It’s quite rare that we’re taught how to use our “right brain.” Gestalt with me is a counterbalance against the right-brain centered world and culture. This looks like embodiment, movement, expression, and being with what is there already but was hiding from being felt.
With our right brain, we find we don’t need to fit in to find joy, connection, power, and freedom. Fitting in isn’t powerful. Fitting in isn’t free. What we need is to connect with our core and learn how to stay there through our body.
Connect with your power to live free.
Why Do This Work With Me?
My approach is direct, relational, embodied, and spacious. I don’t sit back and nod. I don’t give you cookie cutter answers. I join you in the work. I nurture gentle curiosity and show you new ways to grow.
My clients are often navigating neurodivergence, identity, burnout, trauma of all sorts, relationship difficulties, or big life transitions. Many have spent years in survival mode trying to shrink to fit in. In our work together, we slow down enough to notice what’s actually happening inside—not just what you think should be happening. We build from there, with compassion and curiosity.
Together, we move from:
Overthinking to embodied clarity
Coping to Connecting
Numbing Out to Coming Alive
Shrinking/Masking to Being Powerful & Free
Together, we won’t try to suppress your feelings—we’ll harness them.
Ready to do the Work?
Where I Do This Work
District of Columbia, Delaware, & Ohio
I am licensed an available to provide tele-psychotherapy to those who are in Washington, DC, Delaware, or Ohio during online appointments.
My credentials:
Licensed Professional Counselor in Washington, DC
Licensed Professional Counselor of Mental Health in Delaware
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in Ohio
Education & Training
MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Aug 2020 - Aug 2022 - The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
Advanced Training in Gestalt Psychotherapy
Aug 2024 - Present - Gestalt Institute of the Rockies
Professional Affiliations
DC Mental Health Counselors Association - President (2025-2026)
International Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy - Member
American Counseling Association - Member