about
Psychologically informed coach
My work is shaped by lived experience, professional depth, and more than 25 years of helping people think about themselves, their relationships, work, decisions, and direction.
Carl Taylor
Psychologist & Coach
I work as a psychologically informed coach, helping people navigate transitions, responsibility, uncertainty, and change in their personal or professional lives.
I help people think more clearly about themselves, their relationships, decisions, and direction by creating space to step back from immediate pressures, examine situations from different perspectives, and consider how they want to respond.
Coaching is not about advice or formulas. It is a collaborative process that helps people develop greater understanding, make more deliberate decisions, and respond more effectively to the challenges they face.
Professional Background
My professional background draws on experience in psychology, psychotherapy, healthcare, research, consultancy, project management, and service development.
Over more than 25 years, I have worked across a wide range of psychological, therapeutic, supervisory, and developmental roles, supporting people at different stages of their personal and professional lives.
Before moving into specialist psychological therapy services, I worked within the National Housing Federation’s consultancy and research service, where my work included project coordination, research, evaluation, and support for service development initiatives, alongside postgraduate training in psychology and counselling psychology.
I later spent more than 14 years working within NHS psychological therapy services, including specialist psychology and psychotherapy services at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Alongside direct clinical work, my roles included supervision, consultation, training, and the development of specialist therapy provision.
I am a Chartered Counselling Psychologist registered with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
I am also an accredited Practitioner Coach with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and am currently completing an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching, working towards EMCC Senior Practitioner accreditation.
Background
I did not come into psychology or coaching through a conventional route.
I grew up on a council estate in the North of England and left school at 16 with few qualifications and little expectation that I would go on to higher education or professional training. My early working life was spent as a barber in a small industrial town, where I learned how to build relationships with people from many different walks of life and developed an early interest in people, identity, relationships, and the different ways individuals make sense of themselves and their circumstances.
In my early twenties, I decided I wanted something different from life and returned to education through an adult access course before later studying psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London. That experience of reinvention, uncertainty, and moving across different social and professional worlds has remained important to me and continues to shape how I think about ambition, transition, identity, responsibility, pressure, and change.
Alongside postgraduate training in Counselling Psychology at Regent’s University London, I worked within the National Housing Federation’s consultancy and research service, balancing professional work with intensive academic and clinical training. This early experience gave me exposure to organisational systems, leadership, strategic thinking, business development, reflective evaluation, and team coordination alongside my psychological training.
I later spent more than 14 years working within NHS psychotherapy and psychology services, including senior roles within specialist psychological therapies at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Over time, my work expanded across psychology, psychotherapy, supervision, consultation, and service development. I previously led the provision of Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) and Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT) within the Lewisham Integrated Psychological Therapies Team.
Today, I work independently in Central London and online, bringing together psychology, coaching, and over two decades of experience working with people, relationships, development, and change through Psychology & Psychotherapy Services Ltd (PPS).
My Approach
My approach combines psychological understanding with a practical focus on helping people develop greater clarity, perspective, and direction.
Coaching provides a structured space to step back from immediate pressures and think more carefully about what is happening. Together we explore patterns, assumptions, relationships, and ways of responding that may be shaping your experience.
The aim is not to provide quick answers or ready-made solutions. It is to help you develop a clearer understanding of yourself and make more intentional decisions about how you want to move forward in life and work.
Who I Work With
Many people come to coaching at a point where established ways of thinking, working, or living no longer feel quite sufficient.
You may be navigating a transition, carrying increasing responsibility, facing an important decision, questioning your direction, or trying to make sense of competing pressures and expectations.
You may not be looking for advice or quick answers. Instead, you may be looking for a space to think carefully about what is happening, understand it more clearly, and decide how you want to move forward.
25+ Years of Professional Experience
Working with people through change, uncertainty, responsibility, and development
The work is grounded in thoughtful conversation, psychological understanding, and helping people think more clearly about themselves, their decisions, and the direction they want to move in.
900+ People Worked With
Across psychology, psychotherapy, coaching, and reflective practice
14,000+ Professional Conversations
Focused on relationships, understanding, change, and meaningful movement forward
Accredited Practitioner Coach
I am an accredited Practitioner Coach with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and currently completing an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching, working towards Senior Practitioner accreditation.
