Carl Taylor

Understanding Yourself Through a Relational Lens

Anxiety, low mood, low self-esteem, or persistent self-doubt often stem from more than just symptoms — they’re shaped by how we’ve learned to relate to ourselves and others.

You might be struggling with feelings that are difficult to manage or make sense of — shame, guilt, anxiety, or emotional shutdown. You may find yourself caught in familiar but painful relational patterns: holding back your needs, over-accommodating others, or struggling to feel truly seen or valued.

These difficulties are often rooted in earlier experiences — where we learned (often unconsciously) that certain parts of ourselves were unsafe to express. Over time, we internalise beliefs like “I’m too much,” “I don’t matter,” or “If I need, I’ll be rejected.”

Therapy offers a space to explore where these beliefs and patterns come from — and how they might be holding you back from living with more confidence, authenticity, and emotional clarity.

My Approach

As a Chartered Counselling Psychologist with over two decades of experience — including 14 years in the NHS — I offer a relational, process-oriented approach to psychological therapy.

I integrate models such as:

Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) – A relational, time-sensitive model that helps identify the internal roles and patterns you've developed in response to early relationships and life experiences. By mapping out how these patterns show up in current relationships and self-perception, CAT supports insight, emotional clarity, and targeted change.

Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT) – Focused on strengthening your ability to reflect on thoughts, feelings, and relational intentions — both your own and others’. MBT helps build emotional regulation, reduce reactivity, and foster a more stable sense of self in relationships.

Existential Therapy – Supports exploration of identity, meaning, freedom, and personal responsibility. This approach is especially helpful during life transitions, emotional uncertainty, or when questioning your sense of direction or purpose.

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) – Designed to address self-criticism and shame by cultivating self-compassion. This approach draws on psychology and neuroscience to help develop a more understanding, balanced, and supportive inner dialogue.

Psychological therapy with me isn’t about applying a generic solution — it’s about uncovering the deeper context behind your struggles. We’ll explore how past experiences shaped the roles you’ve taken on, the beliefs you carry, and how these now affect your emotional life and relationships.

What Clients Often Bring to Therapy

Emotional patterns don’t form in isolation — they often reflect how we’ve learned to survive, connect, and protect ourselves. Therapy offers space to explore them with curiosity and care.

Common Issues I Work With:

• Anxiety and difficulty managing uncomfortable emotions
  Struggling to tolerate vulnerability, uncertainty, or emotional discomfort — often leading to avoidance, self-doubt, or internal conflict.
• Low self-esteem and self-criticism
  Harsh internal narratives, fear of rejection, or feeling “not good enough” in relationships, work, or personal identity.
• Emotional withdrawal and burnout
  Shutting down or disconnecting from others as a way of coping — especially when emotional needs feel overwhelming or unsafe to express.
• Depression and loss of direction
  Feeling stuck, depleted, or unsure of your sense of self — often shaped by unresolved relational wounds or unmet emotional needs.
• Difficulty setting boundaries or expressing needs
  Fearing conflict, being seen as “too much,” or worrying that asserting needs will lead to rejection or disconnection.
• Family issues and attachment wounds
  Navigating the impact of early caregiving relationships, emotional neglect, or ongoing dynamics that leave you feeling unseen or emotionally burdened.
• Low confidence in relationships or at work
  Struggling to feel secure, trust your instincts, or take up space authentically — particularly in high-pressure or emotionally complex environments.
• High-functioning professionals feeling emotionally stuck
  Outward success but inward disconnection — often caught in performance-driven roles that leave little room for vulnerability or emotional truth.

How We’ll Work Together

Therapy with me is a space to think, feel, and reflect — together.

Our work is collaborative and grounded in psychological depth. It’s not about managing symptoms in isolation, but about making sense of the emotional, relational, and historical context that shapes your experience — and creating space for change that lasts.

Together, we’ll explore:

How your early experiences shaped the way you relate to yourself and others. The emotional patterns and internal roles that keep you feeling stuck, disconnected, or unsure of your needs.

What it could mean to develop new ways of understanding, responding to, and relating — both inwardly and outwardly.

This process is thoughtful and intentional. It offers you the opportunity to better understand your inner world and begin relating to it with more clarity, honesty, and compassion.

Ready to Take the First Step?

You don’t need to be in crisis to start therapy.

If something in this feels familiar — and you’re ready to understand what’s really going on beneath the surface — I’m here to help.

In-person sessions available in Central London (High Holborn & Borough)
Online therapy available via secure Zoom

For further information visit: https://ppslondon.net

I take a relational and goal-oriented approach to therapy, focusing on understanding the underlying difficulties that have developed within the context of your attachment relationships, life experiences, and interpersonal interactions. My aim is to help you build greater self-awareness and self-reflective capacity, which are essential for fostering meaningful and lasting change.

In our sessions, we will explore your concerns and difficulties collaboratively, identifying the patterns, assumptions, and emotions that may be influencing your current challenges. Together, we will set clear goals for therapy, working in the present moment to achieve them while gaining insight into the deeper factors that shape your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

Central to my approach is creating a tailored formulation—a comprehensive understanding of your unique experiences, personality traits, attachment patterns, coping strategies, and interpersonal dynamics. This formulation serves as the foundation of our treatment plan, helping us to understand how your difficulties have developed and been maintained, and guiding our work towards effective, transformative change.

Session Fees

My standard fee for self-funding clients is £120 per 50-minute session.

Initial Consultation

I offer a one-off consultation via Zoom for prospective clients. This is a professional meeting where we explore:

• What’s bringing you to therapy
• How I work and whether this approach feels like a good fit
• Practicalities such as scheduling and suitability for ongoing sessions

Please note: This is not a free therapy session, nor a taster — but a dedicated space to reflect on your needs and assess whether working together feels right.

Health Insurance Coverage

If you have private health insurance, you may be able to access therapy through your policy.

I am a recognised provider with:

• Aviva
• BUPA
• Cigna
• General & Medical
• Vitality
• WPA

Please contact your insurer directly to confirm coverage and obtain authorisation. Session fees may vary depending on their agreements. Once authorised, I will invoice your insurer directly.

For further information visit: https://ppslondon.net

What to Expect When Working With Me

Therapy with me is collaborative, reflective, and grounded in helping you understand the emotional patterns that shape how you think, feel, and relate — not just manage surface-level symptoms.

This isn’t a space for quick fixes or prescriptive techniques. Instead, it’s a place to slow down, explore what’s going on beneath the surface, and begin to make sense of why certain feelings or behaviours keep showing up — especially when they no longer serve you.

You don’t need to come in with a clear diagnosis or tidy narrative. Many of the people I work with are high-functioning but internally struggling — professionals who feel emotionally stuck, disconnected, or burdened by long-standing patterns they can’t fully explain.

My approach is integrative, drawing on models such as Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) and Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT). These approaches offer structured yet flexible ways of understanding how your past experiences influence the way you relate to yourself and others in the present. From there, we begin to build new ways of responding — with more self-awareness, intention, and emotional clarity.

Practical Details

• Sessions are weekly and 50 minutes in length
• In-person therapy is available from private, comfortable consulting rooms in High Holborn (WC1V) and Borough (SE1)
• Online sessions are offered via secure Zoom for clients who prefer remote access or flexibility.

This is a space for curiosity, emotional honesty, and reflection. If you’re ready to engage in a process of deeper self-understanding and meaningful change — we can begin there, together.