Mark Ryan - Accredited Relationship Therapist Kensington

Therapist Directory Listing Category: Psychotherapists and Counsellors

About the Therapist

About the therapist:

My name is Mark Ryan. I’m an integrative psychotherapist and Registered Relationship Therapist (NCPS), working exclusively in person with couples and people in diverse relationship structures across London.

I specialise in relationship and intimacy therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals and couples, people in ethically non-monogamous and polyamorous relationships, and those navigating queer and non-traditional partnership dynamics. This isn’t a niche I’ve added to a generalist practice, it’s the heart of my work.

Clients come to me with a wide range of relational challenges: communication breakdown and conflict, emotional distance and disconnection, desire and intimacy difficulties, mismatched needs around sex or relationship structure, the impact of trauma on closeness, and questions about identity within the relationship. I also work with couples navigating separation, helping partners part with honesty and care.

I work integratively, drawing on Imago Relationship Therapy, the Gottman Method, Systemic, Attachment-Based, and Psychodynamic approaches. My practice is affirming, sex-positive, and kink-aware. I don’t pathologise relationship structures, sexual identities, or expressions of desire...I work with them as part of understanding who you are and what your relationship needs.

Clients often describe me as calm, direct, and gently challenging. My role isn’t to take sides or prescribe outcomes, it’s to help partners slow down, hear each other more clearly, and make sense of what’s actually happening between them.

I work from private therapy rooms in Pimlico, Kensington, and Angel (all easily accessible by public transport across London).

Sexual identity:

Bi- | Pansexual
Gay
Other
Queer

Gender identity: Male

Gender history: As assigned at birth

Non-monogamy: No

Intersex: No

Neurodivergent: No

Personal pronouns: He/Him

Qualifications - Links to websites:

BA (Hons) Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy

Accredited Relationship Therapist: National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS)https://www.search-ncps.com/search/FindaTherapist/NCPS495

Registered Member: British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)https://www.bacp.co.uk/profile/229bb3e5-8d80-ee11-8179-00224899a08f

Additional Training and CPD

Imago Relationship Therapy
Gottman Method Couples Therapy
Systemic and Attachment-Based Approaches
Working with Gender, Sexuality, and Relationship Diversity (GSRD)
Trauma-Informed Practice

Qualifications - Additional:

Level 5 in Imago Relationship Therapy & Gottman Method Couples Therapy
CPD in Systemic and Attachment-Based Practice
Training in Working with Gender, Sexuality, and Relationship Diversity (GSRD)
CPD in Ethical Non-Monogamy and Polyamory
CPD in Trauma-Informed Practice
Ongoing supervision with an accredited couple’s therapy supervisor
Regular CPD in relational psychotherapy, attachment, and psychodynamic approaches

Qualifications - Additional:

Award	Awarding body	Year of award

Experience and approach:

My clinical focus is couples and relational therapy, with particular depth in working with LGBTQ+ clients, people in ethically non-monogamous and polyamorous relationships, and those navigating gender, sexuality, and relationship diversity (GSRD).

I have extensive experience working with:

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, and pansexual couples and individuals
People in ethically non-monogamous relationships (including open relationships, polyamory, relationship anarchy, and hierarchical and non-hierarchical structures)
Queer relationship structures that don’t map neatly onto conventional couples therapy models
Kink-aware and BDSM-involved clients, approached with curiosity and without pathologising
Clients navigating sexual identity, desire differences, or shifts in how they understand themselves within a relationship
Intimacy and desire challenges, including low or mismatched libido, loss of sexual connection, and the emotional dimensions of physical closeness
The impact of internalised shame, minority stress, and trauma on relational patterns

My approach is integrative and relational. I draw on Imago Relationship Therapy, the Gottman Method, Systemic, Attachment-Based, and Psychodynamic frameworks, selecting and combining approaches based on what each relationship actually needs rather than following a single model.

I see relationships as living narratives, shaped by individual histories, attachment patterns, and the often-unspoken roles that partners inhabit with one another. Therapy offers a space to make those patterns visible, examine them without blame, and find new ways of being together, or, where needed, of parting with clarity and respect.

My practice is sex-positive, non-pathologising, and grounded in an understanding of the specific pressures and joys that come with queer and non-traditional relational life. I hold a BA (Hons) in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy, am a Registered Member of the BACP, and a Registered Relationship Therapist with the NCPS. I maintain regular clinical supervision and ongoing CPD in GSRD, ENM, trauma-informed practice, and relational psychotherapy.

Approaches: