Julia Aline Samuel (née Guinness; born 12 September 1959) is a British psychotherapist and paediatric counsellor.

Early life

Samuel is the daughter of James Edward Alexander Rundell Guinness (1924–2006), a banker, and his wife, the former Pauline Vivien Mander (1926–2017). Guinness is a member of the "banking line" of the

Guinness family The Guinness family is an extensive Irish family known for its accomplishments in brewing, banking, politics, and religious ministry. The brewing branch is particularly well known among the general public for producing the dry stout Guinne ...

, founders of Guinness Mahon in 1836, which descends from Samuel Guinness (1727–1795), the brother of

Arthur Guinness Arthur Guinness ( 172523 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759. Born in Celbridge, County Kildare around 1725, Guinness' ...

. Samuel has three older sisters and a younger brother. Her sister Sabrina Guinness is a television producer, her sister Miranda is a journalist, and her sister Anita is the widow of the late Hon. Amschel Rothschild; her brother is artist and writer Hugo Guinness.

Career

After initially working in publishing, Samuel trained as a counsellor. She is a psychotherapist specialising in grief and worked as a

bereavement counsellor Grief counseling is a form of psychotherapy that aims to help people cope with the physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and cognitive responses to loss. These experiences are commonly thought to be brought on by a loved person's death, but may ...

in the NHS paediatrics department of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, where she pioneered the role of maternity and paediatric psychotherapy. In 1994 she helped launch and establish Child Bereavement UK, and as founder patron, continues to play an active role in the charity. She has said that a trauma is a psychic wound that has not been processed, and is stored in the fight/flight/freeze part of the brain, the amygdala, and that

EMDR Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro in the 1980s that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories such as post-traumatic stress ...

is the best evidence-based treatment for trauma. In 2021 she announced the launch o
Grief Works App
a mobile application for iOS and Android to help the bereaved navigate their grief.

Recognition

Samuel was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to bereaved parents of babies. She is a vice president of British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and is an Honorary Doctor of Middlesex University.

Books

Her first book, ''Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death and Surviving'', was published in 2017. Samuel's second book ''This Too Shall Pass: Stories of Change, Crisis and Hopeful Beginnings'' is published on 5 March 2020. Her third book ''Every Family Has A Story: How we inherit love and loss'' was published by Penguin Life on 17 March 2022.

Personal life

On 6 March 1980, at the age of 20, Julia married Michael Samuel, of the

Hill Samuel Hill Samuel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group's Offshore Private Banking unit. It was formerly a leading British merchant bank and financial services firm before the takeover by TSB Group Plc. in 1987, which itself merged wi ...

banking family, son of Hon. Peter Samuel, later the 4th Viscount Bearsted. Samuel is the daughter of Old Etonian James Edward Alexander Rundell Guinness, a partner in - and later chairman of - his family's bank, Guinness Mahon, and chairman of the

Public Works Loan Board The Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) ( cy, Bwrdd Benthyciadau Gwaith Cyhoeddus) was a statutory body of the UK Government that provided loans to public bodies from the National Loans Fund. In 2020, the PWLB was abolished as a statutory organisation, a ...

from 1970 to 1990, and his wife Pauline, daughter of Howard Vivien Mander, of Congreve Manor,

Penkridge Penkridge ( ) is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire District in Staffordshire, England. It is to the south of Stafford, north of Wolverhampton, west of Cannock and east of Telford. The nearby town of Brewood is also not far away. ...

, Staffordshire. James Guinness descends from the founder of the Guinness Mahon bank, Robert Rundell Guinness, a member of the Anglo-Irish

. Samuel's brother Hugo Guinness is an artist and model, and her sister is Sabrina Guinness. She is one of the seven

godparent In infant baptism and denominations of Christianity, a godparent (also known as a sponsor, or '' gossiprede'') is someone who bears witness to a child's christening and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelo ...

s of

Prince George Prince George may refer to: People British princes * George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (1449-1478), middle brother of Edward IV and Richard III. * Prince George Augustus, later George II of Great Britain (1683–1760) * Prince George Will ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel, Julia 1959 births Living people British psychotherapists Julia Samuel Members of the Order of the British Empire