Mark Ryan - Kensington

My clinical focus is couples and relationship 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 work with couples, polycules, and individuals, the last of these for people who want to understand their relational patterns, identity, or desire without a partner in the room.  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 both 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; and the impact of internalised shame and minority stress on relational patterns.  For individual clients, I work one to one with people processing a breakup or the discovery of an affair, making sense of attachment patterns that repeat across relationships, exploring questions of identity or desire that feel difficult to raise with a partner, or deciding whether to stay in or leave a relationship.  My approach is integrative and relational. I draw on Imago Relationship Therapy, the Gottman Method, and attachment-based, systemic, 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 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 am a BACP Accredited Psychotherapist and an NCPS Accredited Relationship Therapist. I maintain regular clinical supervision and ongoing CPD in GSRD, ethical non-monogamy, and relational psychotherapy.