Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Latoya Taylor, PhD, LP.
Dr. Latoya, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
As a first-generation college student, I had a clear picture of career success: earn the degree, build a meaningful career as a psychologist, and create stability. I earned my PhD in clinical psychology, and on paper, I was exactly where I was supposed to be. But as my life expanded through career, marriage, and motherhood, my definition of success expanded too. I realized I wanted meaningful work and to be present for the life I was working so hard to create with my husband and three young children.
That realization, paired with more than 15 years of clinical experience, shaped Tailored Clinical Services (TCS). I kept encountering accomplished, capable women who were asking their own version of the same question: How do I take care of myself without dropping everything—and everyone—I care about? TCS serves high-functioning women who are used to holding everything together but are ready to understand themselves more deeply, care for themselves differently, and create healthier ways of living and relating. Through our services, we help people navigate emotional distress, strengthen their mental health, and develop tools for both healing and prevention. Over time, I also saw the need to bring psychological insight beyond the therapy room. That led me to create UNLOCKED: The Mother–Daughter Conversation, a community centered experience designed to help mothers build stronger, more connected relationships.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not. Being a first-generation college student meant that so much of my journey involved figuring things out as I went. I didn’t have a roadmap for navigating higher education, earning a PhD, building a career as a clinical psychologist, or becoming an entrepreneur. There were many moments when I was learning the rules while already being expected to play the game.
My career has also been anything but linear. There have been seasons when personal and family priorities required me to slow down, pause, or rethink what progress looked like. Those experiences taught me that something can be good and still no longer be the right fit, and that changing direction doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve lost momentum.
My journey has also reshaped how I think about work-life balance. I no longer see balance as giving everything equal attention all the time. Instead, I think it’s about being intentional and asking, Does the way I’m spending my time reflect what I say matters most to me?
This same tension is expressed by women who value their careers, families, and responsibilities but don’t want to lose themselves or their well-being in the process. The answer isn’t always to do more or manage it better. Growth sometimes requires the courage to choose differently.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Tailored Clinical Services (TCS) is a boutique private practice focused on providing mental health care for adults navigating anxiety, depression, relationship concerns, identity, life transitions, and the pressures of carrying multiple roles. Much of our expertise centers on women’s health, particularly Black high-functioning women. We also provide consulting, workshop, and speaking to organizations and groups that benefit from learning how to improve mental wellness.
What sets TCS apart is the trust, compassion, competence, and safety we cultivate with our clients. The name “Tailored” reflects our belief that therapy should respond to each person’s values, culture, identity, relationships, experiences, and faith when meaningful to them. Our signature approach, the RECLAIM Method, embodies this philosophy. It helps people slow down, understand the patterns affecting their well-being, reconnect with what matters, and implement lasting changes. TCS goes beyond helping women manage symptoms. We help women understand the patterns behind how they carry stress, responsibility, relationships, and expectations—and change what is no longer serving them. The women we support may or may not look like she is experiencing challenges. She is accomplishing things, caring for people, working, parenting, leading, and managing responsibilities. She can keep doing it. She just doesn’t want to keep doing it this way.
My commitment to making psychology accessible beyond the therapy room also led me to create UNLOCKED: The Mother–Daughter Conversation. UNLOCKED is a relationship education platform that helps mothers and daughters recognize inherited patterns, strengthen communication, and create healthier connections across generations. Our broader community work also includes workshops and speaking engagements that create space for meaningful conversations about mental health and relationships.
I’m most proud that TCS and UNLOCKED make psychology credible, accessible, applicable, and human. At TCS, that means creating a sense of belonging and connection during some of our clients’ most vulnerable moments. I want people to encounter our work and think, “There’s a name for what I’ve been experiencing, I have someone who understands me, and there may be another way forward.”
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risk has sometimes looked like closing my eyes and leaping, trusting that I had the strength within me and the support of those around me to find my footing. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t feel like I was falling. It meant having enough courage to tolerate the discomfort, recognize the resources available to me, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Building Tailored Clinical Services required me to extend to myself the same trust I encourage my clients to develop within themselves. I had to trust my clinical experience, recognize the resources available to me, and believe I could create something that reflected both my values and the needs I saw in the people I served. Creating UNLOCKED required another kind of leap by considering how psychological knowledge could serve people outside the therapy room. I don’t believe in taking risks for the sake of being bold; rather, I believe in thoughtful risk-taking that considers both the costs of saying yes and the potential costs of saying no. For me, choosing “and” isn’t about doing everything. It’s about believing one meaningful part of who I am doesn’t have to disappear for another part to exist.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tailoredclinicalservices.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_drlatoyataylor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Dr-Latoya-Taylor-61559827956187/
