in Washington, DC

Living as a kinky person means navigating a world that often pathologizes, misunderstands, or misrepresents your desires and relationship dynamics. Your identity—across kink, sexuality, gender, race, culture, neurodivergence, and more—is a valid and vital part of who you are. In therapy, you deserve to be met with full acceptance, curiosity, and respect for all the ways you love, play, and show up in the world.

I offer therapy that affirms your kink identity and honors how it intersects with other parts of who you are—like your cultural background, neurotype, gender experience, relationship structures, and spiritual life. This intersectional approach means we look at the whole picture, not just one piece. We explore how your experiences of power, pleasure, and pain live in your body—and how healing can happen when you’re no longer made to hide or justify who you are.

Why Intersectional Kink-Affirming Therapy?

Kink doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It exists in the larger context of your life—shaped by identity, history, trauma, and resilience. For example:

• Being queer and kinky might mean navigating double stigma or misunderstanding, even in progressive spaces.

• Being a kinky person of color can bring complex dynamics around trust, power, and safety.

• Having a trauma history and engaging in kink may require care, nuance, and deep attunement—not shame or pathologizing.

• Growing up in environments that shamed your desires or reinforced rigid gender or sexual norms can create lasting wounds around consent, authenticity, and connection.

Kink-affirming therapy creates a space where none of that needs to be hidden. We work with your whole experience—mind, body, and relational dynamics—to support healing, growth, and self-trust.

Healing Shame & Trauma in Kink-Affirming Contexts

Many people drawn to kink carry emotional injuries from being misunderstood, rejected, or punished for who they are and what they desire. Some common sources of harm include:

• Internalized shame from religious, cultural, or family-based messages

• Past abuse or boundary violations that make trust difficult

• Trauma from being outed, judged, or controlled in intimate relationships

• Systemic oppression based on race, gender, sexuality, or neurotype

• Experiences of medical or therapeutic invalidation of kink identities

In our work together, we move beyond shame and into embodiment. We tend to the ways trauma lives in the nervous system—not just in thoughts—and explore how your body holds both pain and possibility. We make space for grief, pleasure, power, and liberation to coexist.

Why My Approach Supports Kink-Affirming Healing

I integrate Gestalt therapy, somatic awareness, polyvagal-informed techniques, mindfulness-based stress reduction, Adlerian therapy, and Zen Buddhism-informed philosophy into a grounded, kink-affirming approach that centers your dignity and autonomy.

• Gestalt therapy helps you reconnect with what’s alive in the moment—including sensations, longings, boundaries, and play. It’s not about analyzing from a distance; it’s about experiencing what’s true, now, in your body and relationships.

• Somatic therapy brings attention to how your body stores shame, trauma, desire, and pleasure. This helps build capacity for safe exploration, healing, and connection.

• Polyvagal-informed work helps regulate your nervous system and builds pathways from fear or shutdown toward connection, safety, and vitality—especially useful if play triggers stress responses.

• Mindfulness practices ground you in your own experience, supporting nonjudgmental awareness of sensation, emotion, and memory.

• Adlerian therapy introduces the power of belonging and contribution—especially meaningful for folks whose relationships fall outside the norm. You deserve to feel valued, seen, and part of a bigger story.

• Zen Buddhism-informed therapy emphasizes being fully present, exactly as you are, with no need to change or justify. It invites you to live from your center—with curiosity, spaciousness, and compassion.

These methods support your wholeness—not by ignoring your kink identity, but by integrating it fully into your healing and growth. They support trauma resolution, nervous system regulation, relational safety, and self-trust—all essential for thriving in your authentic expression.

What Makes This Therapy Different

Many people in kink communities have had the experience of being pathologized or overly analyzed by therapists who didn’t “get it.” Others have felt like they had to educate their therapist or sanitize parts of themselves just to feel safe.

That’s not this.

My approach is built on lived understanding, deep training, and an unwavering commitment to affirming your full humanity. This means:

• You’re not pathologized for what turns you on, how you relate, or what kind of power you enjoy.

• Your consent, agency, and dignity are at the center of the process.

• We move beyond just talking about problems—we also track what’s happening in your body and explore how you relate to yourself, your desires, and your community.

• We create space for play, erotic aliveness, joy, and self-expression alongside the hard stuff.

• You get support that’s grounded in trauma-informed care, queer & trans liberation, anti-racism, and decolonizing practices—not just clinical theory.

Therapy with me isn’t about fixing what’s “wrong.” It’s about reclaiming what’s real and alive in you—your pleasure, your voice, your boundaries, your needs, your dreams.

What You Can Expect in Therapy With Me

• A kink-aware, nonjudgmental space where you can be your full self

• Deep respect for your agency, consent, limits, and desires

• Tools for healing trauma, building nervous system resilience, and improving communication

• Exploration of power, boundaries, attachment, and trust—at your own pace

• Room for your identities to be honored in their full intersectionality

• A collaborative approach that lets you set the pace and direction

• Support for navigating internalized shame, relational struggles, or disconnection from your body

Kink-Affirming Therapy for Individuals, Relationships & Power-Exchange Dynamics

I offer therapy not just for individuals, but also for people in kink relationships, chosen families, D/s dynamics, play partnerships, polycules, and other nontraditional constellations rooted in trust, consent, and negotiated power.

If you’ve ever felt like your desires or dynamics don’t “fit the mold,” you’re not alone. Many kinky people relate in ways that challenge dominant narratives—and that’s not something to hide. It’s something to honor.

I work with:

• Individuals exploring kink identity, desires, boundaries, or internalized shame

• Partners creating communication frameworks that support your specific power exchange—not just generic “healthy relationship” advice

• D/s relationships, scenes, and poly/kink constellations navigating repair, consent renegotiation, or aftercare needs

• People untangling fear or judgment from past experiences with pathologized or misunderstood kink

We slow things down and notice what’s happening between and within you—not to judge or label, but to understand what your system needs to feel safe, empowered, and seen.

There’s no need to tone yourself down or leave parts of you at the door. You get to bring your full self into the room—your cravings, your rituals, your edges, your needs for control or surrender, your questions, your kink.

Whether you're processing a consent rupture, unpacking shame, learning to communicate limits, or simply wanting a therapist who won’t flinch at your truth, we go at your pace. We listen to what your nervous system and your dynamic are calling for.

This is therapy that makes space for your kink, your relationships, and your whole self.

You Are Not Alone

You deserve a space where you don’t have to filter, shrink, or explain yourself just to be understood. Whether you’re new to kink or deeply embedded in your community, whether you're navigating trauma, identity shifts, or simply wanting a therapist who gets it—I’m here to walk beside you.

Your desires are not a disorder.
Your relationships are not too much.
Your body is not broken.
Your healing is real—and possible.

Ready to Start?

Contact me for a free 15-minute consultation. Let’s see if this feels like the right fit for you.

Email me at Glen@GestaltGlen.com, call me at 202-922-5747, or visit GestaltGlen.com to schedule your call today.