in Washington, DC

Living as a queer person means navigating a world that often misunderstands, marginalizes, or erases your experience. But your identity—across sexuality, gender, race, culture, neurodivergence, and more—is a vital part of who you are. In therapy, you deserve to be met with full acceptance, understanding, and respect for all the ways you live and show up in the world.

I offer therapy that centers your queer identity and acknowledges how it intersects with other parts of yourself—like race, ethnicity, ability, class, relationship style, and spirituality. This intersectional approach means we see the whole picture of your life, not just one piece. It’s about recognizing the unique challenges and strengths that come from living at these crossroads.

Why Intersectional Queer-Affirming Therapy?

Queer identities don’t exist in isolation—they intersect with other identities that shape your experiences of joy, resilience, and trauma. For example:

• Being Black and queer means carrying the weight of racism and homophobia.

• Being neurodivergent and trans can create complex challenges with communication and safety.

• Growing up in a queerphobic religious community while being queer can create deep conflicts between self-acceptance and cultural or familial expectations. This often brings a heavy load of internalized shame, attachment wounds, and, in some cases, self-inflicted attempts at conversion therapy—trying to change or “fix” yourself to fit those expectations.

When therapy honors all these parts of you, it creates a deeper, more authentic space for healing.

Healing Trauma in Queer & Intersectional Contexts

Many queer people carry wounds from experiences like:

• Family rejection or conflict about identity

• Discrimination or violence related to race, gender, or sexuality

• Internalized stigma and shame shaped by societal oppression

• Trauma linked to neurodivergence or disability

• Historical and ongoing systemic injustices that impact mental health

Trauma doesn’t just live in the mind—it lives in the body and shapes how we relate to ourselves and others. My approach integrates trauma-focused care with somatic and Gestalt therapy tools, helping you reconnect with your body’s wisdom, notice what’s alive in the present moment, and gently transform old wounds into new strength.

Why My Approach Is Especially Powerful for Queer-Affirming Therapy

My therapy blends Gestalt, somatic awareness, polyvagal-informed practices, mindfulness-based stress reduction, Adlerian therapy, and Zen Buddhism-informed perspectives into a unique whole designed to support your full humanity. Here’s how these approaches work for you:

• Gestalt therapy centers on your present-moment experience, helping you discover how you fill your awareness—not by emptying the mind, but by exploring thoughts, feelings, and sensations with gentle curiosity. This honors your authentic self and helps break free from internalized oppression or shame.

• Somatic awareness invites you to reconnect with your body’s signals—an essential tool for healing trauma stored in the body and rebuilding safety when identity has been threatened.

• Polyvagal-informed techniques support nervous system regulation, helping you move out of fight/flight/freeze responses into states of connection and calm. This is especially helpful when you face chronic stress from social marginalization or discrimination.

• Mindfulness-based stress reduction practices cultivate grounding and compassion for yourself, allowing you to witness difficult emotions without being overwhelmed or reactive.

• Adlerian therapy introduces the powerful idea of community feelings—the deep sense of belonging that comes from knowing you are connected to others like you across time and space. Seeing people like us in the past, present, and future helps us feel integral to life in the cosmos, grounding us in meaning and connection beyond isolation. This sense of belonging and shared humanity is a cornerstone for healing and empowerment.

• Zen Buddhism-informed therapy is rooted in the philosophy of being fully alive right now—radically accepting the present moment as it is—and supporting psycho-spiritual growth that emerges from training our awareness. This approach invites you to live with openness and compassion, even amid uncertainty or pain, deepening your connection to yourself and the world.

Together, these approaches create a healing environment that supports embodiment, self-trust, resilience, and community connection—all crucial for navigating complex intersections of identity and trauma.

What Makes This Blend Unique?

Many therapy approaches focus primarily on talk or cognitive work alone. My work integrates mind, body, and relational experience in a way that:

• Honors how your identities live in your body, not just your thoughts.

• Uses trauma-informed care that understands systemic oppression’s deep impact.

• Is explicitly queer-affirming and intersectional—acknowledging how identities interact.

• Combines evidence-based and experiential tools to promote lasting change.

• Creates space for joy, play, and authentic self-expression alongside healing.

• Connects you to a larger community and lineage, reinforcing belonging and meaning through Adlerian community feelings.

This means therapy isn’t just about “surviving” — it’s about reclaiming your vitality and living fully as your whole self.

What You Can Expect in Therapy With Me

• A safe, nonjudgmental, queer-affirming space where all parts of your identity are honored

• Support for navigating stress and trauma related to intersecting identities and systemic oppression

• Tools to build self-trust, body awareness, emotional regulation, and connection

• A focus on your lived experience and unique path toward healing

• Collaboration in setting goals that matter to you — whether that’s managing anxiety, healing from trauma, improving relationships, or reclaiming joy and resilience

Queer-Affirming Therapy for Individuals, Relationships & Chosen Families

I offer therapy not just for individuals, but also for people in queer relationships, polycules, queerplatonic partnerships, and chosen families navigating life outside the heteronormative mold.

If you’ve ever felt like your identity or relationships don’t “fit,” you’re not alone. Queer folks often build connection in ways that challenge dominant expectations—and that’s not something to fix. It’s something to honor.

I work with:

• Individuals exploring gender, sexuality, or identity shifts

• Partners building communication tools that match your real dynamics—not what cishet culture says they “should” be

• Friendships, chosen families, & queer constellations practicing repair, co-regulation, and mutual care

• People untangling shame, internalized phobias, or trauma from growing up unseen, erased, or judged

We slow things down and pay attention to what’s happening between and within you—not to pathologize, but to understand what your system needs to feel safe, affirmed, and connected.

There’s no need to perform or translate yourself in therapy. You get to show up as you are—with your truths, contradictions, joy, grief, flamboyance, softness, fierceness, and fluidity intact.

Whether you’re healing after rejection, processing coming out, deepening intimacy, or learning to feel at home in your body, we go at your pace. We listen for what your nervous system and your queer brilliance are asking for.

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

You Are Not Alone

Whether you’re coming out, navigating identity shifts, healing from past wounds, or simply seeking a therapist who truly “gets it,” I’m here to walk with you. Your story is important, your pain is valid, and your healing is 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.