About me
You're capable, self-aware, and good at holding things together. So why do the same patterns keep showing up - in relationships, in how you feel about yourself, in the gap between how life looks and how it actually feels?
I'm Jacqueline Samuel, a UKCP-registered attachment-based psychotherapist with over two decades of clinical experience. I work with adults who feel stuck - often high-functioning and self-aware, but caught in patterns they can't seem to shift alone.
Most of the difficulties that bring people to therapy have roots that go back further than today's problem itself. Anxiety, relationship difficulties, depression, low self-worth - these rarely arrive out of nowhere. They usually have a logic: learned responses, relational templates, ways of protecting ourselves that made sense once, and that are now getting in the way.
My work is grounded in attachment theory - the study of how our earliest experiences of being loved and cared for shape the way we see ourselves, connect with others, and manage difficult emotions throughout life. In therapy, we explore those roots with curiosity rather than judgment. Not to pathologise, but to understand - and to find what becomes possible when we do.
I draw on attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapy as my primary approach, integrated with CBT, Ericksonian hypnotherapy, and relational therapy depending on what is most useful for you. The work is collaborative, at your pace, and shaped around your specific situation.
I have particular experience working with people navigating faith transitions and the experience of leaving religious communities (I've spoken on BBC Radio on this topic), questions of sexuality and identity, and the experience of being high-functioning on the outside while quietly struggling on the inside. I've also worked extensively with addiction, having worked in the United States as an addictions counsellor supporting teenagers and adults.
I have published in the Attachment journal and contributed a chapter to a forthcoming book on attachment and trauma.
Sessions are 50 minutes, held weekly. I offer a free 15-minute introductory video call before any commitment - a chance for us to meet, for you to ask any questions, and to get a sense of whether working together feels right. There is no obligation after that call.
My fee is £150 per session. I hold a small number of reduced-fee spaces for those on lower incomes - please ask if this would be relevant.
I work online across the UK and in person at my practice in Hertfordshire. I'd be glad to hear from you.
Training, qualifications & experience
For the past nearly 2 decades, years I have worked exclusively with adults in private practice, offering attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Before that, I worked in services for teenagers and young adults in New York and London - running drug rehabilitation programmes, job readiness services, and counselling work with young people from Orthodox Jewish communities in both cities, and Black and Hispanic youth in New York's inner city. Across very different cultures and circumstances, what these young people shared was a sense of disenfranchisement and disconnection - from family, from opportunity, from themselves. That work shaped how I practise: I meet people where they are, without assumption.
In private practice I work with a wide range of adults, including artists, creative and tech professionals, and those navigating the particular pressures of London life - overwhelm, isolation, anxiety, self-doubt, and the sense of being stuck in patterns that keep returning. I also have particular experience working with people who are leaving faith-based or coercive religious groups, supporting them through the disorientation of rebuilding identity and life outside structures they had long relied upon. This is often frightening and hopeful in equal measure, and therapy can hold both.
I hold a Diploma in Attachment-Based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, a BA in Psychology, an Associate's Training Certificate from The Arbors Therapeutic Community, and a Certificate in Ericsonian Hypnotherapy. I am a registered member of the UKCP and a full member of the BACP (MBACP). I offer sessions online across the UK and in person in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred). Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision. Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training. All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Religion and Spirituality
Later-Life (Elderly, Geriatric, older adults)
Teenhood
Struggles within religious or faith-based groups (eg orthodox Judaism, Islam, Christianity)
Black and Minority Ethnic concerns
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£90.00 - £150.00
Additional information
I offer some limited concessionary spaces at £90.
When I work
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early morning | |||||||
| Morning | |||||||
| Early afternoon | |||||||
| Late afternoon | |||||||
| Evening |
Further information
My Borehamwood, Herfordshire practice is just a 10 minute walk away from Borehamwood and Elstree National Rail Station and is on several bus routes. There is also free street parking close by.
How to Contact Me:
To book an appointment, call or text me on 07939 643 382
or to email me, write to: jacqueline@jspsychotherapy.com
I will usually be able to see you within a week of you making your first contact with me.
What happens next?
Phone: If you reach my answering machine, please do leave a message.
I will always return your call on the same day, or first thing the next morning.
I assure complete discretion when I return your call. Please specify if you prefer that I do not leave a message.
Text or Email: If you prefer not to be contacted by phone, then your appointment can be arranged entirely by email or text. Please be sure to include your name and to state your availability, to assist me in offering you a suitable time to meet.
Please view my website for much more information, including FAQs.
www.jspsychotherapy.com
You can also Like me on Facebook on www.facebook.com/jacquelinetherapy
or follow me on Twitter on @TweetsTherapy.
