About Sam Plumb
I'm a relationship counsellor with specialist training in couples and relationship counselling.
My background before counselling was in English and education. I studied English Language and Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating with first-class honours and winning a Gibbs Prize, followed by an MA in English at UCL, which I completed with distinction and the John Hobbes Memorial Prize. I then worked as an English and drama teacher across primary, secondary and sixth-form education before training as a counsellor.
I work with people at many different points in their relationships — from those who simply want to communicate better, to those dealing with conflict, disconnection, affairs, loss of trust or the possibility of separation.
My approach is warm, direct and practical: helping you understand the patterns in your relationship, while also looking at what might realistically change.
How I work
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Tailored
I draw on different therapeutic approaches and adapt the work to you, your relationship and what you're facing.
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Warm but direct
I offer a supportive, non-judgemental space, but I won't simply sit back and listen. I'm willing to ask difficult questions and help you look at what may be keeping things stuck.
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Practical
Understanding matters, but so does change. We'll look at the patterns in your relationship and what might help shift them.
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Collaborative
We'll agree what you're hoping to get from counselling and regularly consider whether the work is helping you move towards it.
My therapeutic approach
My approach is integrative. That means I don't believe there is one therapeutic model that works for every relationship.
I draw on psychodynamic therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), narrative approaches and relational therapy. This allows us to look both at what is happening between you now and at the individual histories, experiences and assumptions that people bring to their relationships.
The aim isn't to give you a therapy theory lesson. It's to use the approaches that are most useful for understanding and changing what's happening in your particular relationship.
Training and Experience
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Specialist training in working with couples and relationship difficulties, including communication, conflict, intimacy and separation.
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I am currently undertaking an MSc in Contemporary Psychosexual Relationship Therapy, developing further specialist knowledge around sex, intimacy and relationships.
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A practical approach focused on relationship patterns, personal responsibility and developing healthier ways of relating.
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Training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), including its application to grief and loss and the ways these experiences can affect relationships.
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Brainspotting is an approach that uses the connection between where we look, what we feel and how experiences are held in the body. It has some similarities to EMDR and can be particularly useful when experiences or emotional responses feel difficult to shift through talking alone.
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I undertake regular professional supervision to support safe, ethical and effective practice.
In Oxford and online
In person
My practice is primarily in person. I believe there is something valuable about being able to sit together in the same room, particularly when working with relationships, conflict and intimacy.
Sessions take place in a comfortable, private, ground-floor counselling room in East Oxford, close to the city end of Cowley Road.
Online
Zoom sessions are also available for clients across the UK.
Thinking about relationship counselling?
You don't need to be certain that counselling is right for you before getting in touch. You can book a session, or start with a free 10-minute consultation if you'd like to talk briefly first.