Our Partnership

Dr Key is a Consultant Psychiatrist with over 25 years of specialist experience in eating disorders, trained at the internationally renowned St George's Eating Disorder Service under Professors Arthur Crisp, Hubert Lacey and Bryan Lask. She went on to become Senior Lecturer at St George's Medical School, publishing widely on body image, fertility and the neurological effects of anorexia nervosa.

After leaving the NHS in 2005, she served as lead consultant at the Priory Roehampton and then Medical Director for Eating Disorders across the Priory Group. Alongside her clinical work, she has been an active voice in shaping the specialty nationally — contributing to training standards and treatment guidelines through the Royal College of Psychiatrists, giving evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image, and serving as a panel member on the Model Health Inquiry.

Driven by a commitment to genuinely specialist care, Dr Key founded the Chelsea and Harley Street Eating Disorder Service in 2013 — a multidisciplinary partnership of experienced clinicians offering integrated treatment for eating and body image difficulties. The service works with individuals and families across emotional, physical and nutritional needs, with recovery at its heart.

I am a psychotherapist highly specialised in the treatment of complex eating disorders. Many people I work with also have an additional diagnosis of neurodiversity, depression, anxiety or OCD and I am experienced in addressing these alongside the eating disorder itself.

Everyone I see has had some form of eating disorder for several years. My experience has taught me that the punitive regime imposed over food, exercise and body image demands absolute submission and control. However I am very aware that their unique history, personality and character remain intact somewhere underneath. My goal for their recovery is to enable them to rediscover those qualities and relearn their meaning, finding new ways to rebuild their lives without their eating disorder in place.

After training in integrative psychotherapy at Roehampton Institute (University of Surrey) I went on to train extensively in attachment-based psychodynamic therapy. I also incorporate other approaches and interventions where they have been empirically demonstrated to be of use, and where I have found them to be helpful in my practice.

In 1996 I started working as a psychotherapist at Priory Hospital Roehampton in the Eating Disorders Unit, seeing individual patients and running groups as part of their extensive therapy programme. In 2013 I joined our partnership at the Chelsea and Harley Street Eating Disorder Service, seeing individual patients online and at our Chelsea clinic and running an ongoing online weekly support group for recovered patients.

In 2022 I was asked to write the chapter on eating disorders in Attachment, Relationships and Food edited by Linda Cundy and published by Routledge.

Accredited Registered Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (no. 526916).

Carol qualified as a Registered Dietitian in 1977. Her clinical focus on eating disorders began at St George's Hospital, London, where she contributed to research on hypothalamic change and dietary manipulation in obese women, and subsequently provided dietetic input to the Eating Disorders Unit under the late Professor Arthur Crisp. Over twelve years, she developed the unit's clinical dietetic service, extending her own training in individual counselling and group work.

In 1993, Carol joined the Priory Hospital Roehampton, where she played a central role in building a comprehensive eating disorder service for inpatients, day patients, and outpatients. In 2007, she completed an MA in Working with People with Eating Disorders at the Tavistock Clinic, London, deepening her understanding of the re-feeding process through a psychoanalytical lens.

In 2013, Carol left Priory Hospital Roehampton to join her partners at the Chelsea and Harley Street Eating Disorder Service. She provided consistent, individualised support to patients navigating the challenges of nutritional recovery, drawing on families and friends as part of that process. She worked within the multi-disciplinary team, committed to delivering compassionate, comprehensive care whilst always recognising that lasting recovery requires both nutritional and emotional change.

Carol no longer sees individual patients; however she continues to provide her expertise and wealth of experience for us to draw upon for reflective practice in attending our regular partnership meetings.

Health and Care Professionals Council Registered: DT02299