Psychological Assessment
Routine psychological assessment:–
Standard Psychological Assessment
Before beginning therapy, I offer a 90-minute psychological assessment to understand your current difficulties, relevant experiences and what you hope to achieve through treatment.
Before the appointment, you will be invited to complete relevant questionnaires through NovoPsych, an online psychological assessment platform. These help identify areas of difficulty and assess the severity of your symptoms. I interpret the results alongside our clinical interview; questionnaires alone do not determine a diagnosis or treatment plan.
During the appointment, we explore how your difficulties may have developed and what may be keeping them going. Together, we develop a psychological formulation—a shared understanding of your experiences that helps guide recommendations for treatment.
The assessment includes a standard written report summarising the findings and recommendations. I use NovoPsych and NovoNote to support assessment and report preparation, including AI-assisted functions. I personally review and, where necessary, revise the report, and remain responsible for its final content and all clinical recommendations.
The total fee for the standard assessment and report is £150.
There is no obligation to continue with therapy. The assessment can be a standalone service to help you understand your difficulties and consider your next steps. You may also choose to share your report with your GP or another professional involved in your care.
You can also choose a more comprehensive psychological assessment report, prepared using AI-assisted reporting tools and personally reviewed and finalised by me. This provides a fuller account of the assessment findings, psychological formulation and treatment recommendations for an additional £25 (£175 in total, including the assessment).
Specialist :- Medico-Legal Psychological Assessments
I offer specialist psychological assessments for adults experiencing trauma-related difficulties following an accident or injury, instructed by solicitors in connection with personal injury and compensation claims.
Assessments involve a detailed clinical interview, relevant standardised psychological measures and a review of relevant records. The resulting report provides an independent psychological opinion on the difficulties identified, including diagnosis where appropriate, their impact on everyday functioning, and recommendations for treatment. Questions about the relationship between the incident and the psychological difficulties, and the likely course of recovery, are addressed within the agreed instructions and my professional expertise.
These assessments are separate from my routine assessments for therapy. Fees, scope and timescales are agreed with the instructing solicitor before work begins.
Specialist Psychological Therapy
I provide psychological therapy for adults experiencing trauma-related difficulties, including the lasting effects of childhood emotional neglect, harmful relationships and distressing life events.
My approach begins with understanding your individual experiences. Following assessment, we agree a treatment plan informed by your psychological formulation—a shared understanding of how your difficulties developed and what may be maintaining them.
How I work
I draw on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), schema therapy, compassion-focused therapy and EMDR, alongside ideas from attachment theory and other psychological approaches. The methods we use depend on your needs, preferences and treatment goals.
Therapy may involve recognising patterns in thoughts, emotions and behaviour; developing ways to manage distress; working with difficult memories; and exploring beliefs about yourself that developed through earlier experiences. Where relevant, we also consider how these experiences affect your relationships and your responses to present-day situations.
The work is collaborative and requires active participation. We may agree practical exercises or opportunities to try different responses between sessions, helping you apply what you learn to everyday life.
Pace and progress
We review your progress together and adjust the approach when needed. Before working directly with traumatic memories, we consider your readiness and whether further preparation or support with managing distress would be helpful.
The aim is to reduce distress, increase your understanding of yourself and help you make meaningful, lasting changes in your life.
Integrative Psychological Therapy
My integrative approach draws on different psychological therapies to address both your current difficulties and the earlier experiences that may have shaped them. It brings together cognitive behavioural approaches with insights from attachment theory, psychodynamic thinking and compassion-focused work.
Together, we explore patterns in how you think, feel, behave and relate to others. Therapy combines this understanding with practical strategies and experiential exercises, helping you manage distress, work through difficult experiences and develop different ways of responding.
The aim is to support meaningful change in everyday life and a more secure, compassionate relationship with yourself.
If you are interested in learning more about the different therapy models Dr Taylor draws upon in her clinical practice, then I recommend the following:
Schema Therapy
Schema Therapy
Compassionate Mind Focussed Th
Traditional CBT
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Schema Therapy
Schema Therapy
Compassionate Mind Focussed Therapy
Compassion focused therapy
Ego-states Therapy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego-state_therapy
Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy
EMDR is a structured psychological therapy used to address distress associated with traumatic and other adverse experiences. Treatment considers past experiences, present-day triggers and how you would like to respond to situations in the future.
The Adaptive Information Processing model
EMDR is guided by the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. This proposes that overwhelming experiences may not become fully integrated with our wider knowledge and understanding. Memories can remain associated with distressing emotions, physical sensations and beliefs about ourselves, which may be activated by reminders in everyday life.
For example, someone may know intellectually that an experience is over, yet continue to feel unsafe or responsible for what happened. EMDR aims to help these memories connect with more helpful information and perspectives, reducing their emotional impact. The aim is not to erase the past, but to change how it affects you in the present.
The eight phases of EMDR
- History taking and treatment planning: Exploring your experiences, current difficulties and goals, and identifying relevant memories and triggers.
- Preparation: Explaining treatment, developing ways to manage distress and assessing your readiness for memory processing.
- Assessment: Identifying a specific target memory and its associated images, beliefs, emotions and physical sensations.
- Desensitisation: Working with the memory using guided eye movements or other alternating left–right stimulation, while noticing what arises.
- Installation: Strengthening a helpful, personally meaningful belief associated with the memory.
- Body scan: Checking for remaining physical distress and addressing it where needed.
- Closure: Supporting you to finish the session as settled as possible and preparing for the time between appointments.
- Re-evaluation: Reviewing changes at subsequent sessions and identifying further work.
What to expect
The eight phases do not mean eight appointments. Time spent in each phase varies, and phases may be revisited. We begin with understanding your difficulties and preparing for treatment; memory processing starts when clinically appropriate and agreed with you.
I am an EMDR Europe accredited Consultant and Supervisor, reflecting my extensive clinical experience and advanced training in EMDR. Alongside providing therapy, I am qualified to supervise other EMDR therapists, including those working towards Practitioner and Consultant accreditation.
Dr Taylor uses a ‘Light Stream’ bar where clients follow the light with their eyes as the light moves from left to right. Headphones and hand held buzzers can also be used to create bi-lateral stimulation depending on the preference of client.
Further information on EMDR can be found on:
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKrfH43srg8
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Privacy Statement October 2026
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Dr Taylor Psychology Terms & Conditions
