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Meet Samantha Locke, MA, LMFT, LPC-S, MAC, MBACP (Accred)
What Working With Me Looks Like
Therapy with me is collaborative and goal-focused. From the start, we work on practical coping skills you can use straight away, while also making sense of what is happening in your thoughts, emotions, and relationships. Confidentiality is a core priority, so clients have a safe space to speak openly. The length of therapy is tailored to individual needs, and many clients feel ready to complete treatment in 9-12 sessions.
I work most often with teenagers and adults who feel overwhelmed, stuck, or under pressure to hold it all together. Common themes include anxiety, low mood, family conflict, substance misuse, low self esteem, disordered eating, academic stress, and life transitions, as well as support around ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and school accommodations.
Over the past twenty five years, I’ve had the privilege of working closely with children, teenagers, and young adults. This has given me a deep understanding of how emotional development can be interrupted by trauma, chronic stress, loss, or difficult family dynamics. Even in adulthood, these experiences can leave someone feeling stuck or without the mood regulation, relationship, or life skills they did not have the opportunity to develop earlier.
I will help you recognise the patterns and dynamics that may be holding you back, understand where they began, and build the skills needed to move forward. My experience often allows me to identify these patterns quickly and translate that understanding into practical changes that feel manageable in everyday life.
Whether you are exploring your identity, coping with grief or loss, recovering from trauma, or trying to change longstanding emotional and relationship patterns, our work will be tailored to your strengths, developmental needs and circumstances. My approach combines Developmental Restoration Approach and family systems expertise with practical support, helping you create a healthier, more fulfilling life that feels genuinely within reach.
Skills, Insight, and Real-World Change
My integrative approach draws from evidence-based modalities including CBT, solution-focused techniques, EMDR, DBT, REBT, family systems therapy, motivational interviewing, and mindfulness-based practices. With men and families, this often focuses on emotional regulation, attachment patterns, anger management, relationship repair, and healthier coping strategies. I also have extensive experience supporting soldiers and their families in Europe through deployments and the ripple effects this can have on home life, connection, and wellbeing.
YoungMINDED offers online sessions across the UK and Ireland, with in-person options where available. If you are reaching out through a directory, the simplest next step is to contact us and share what you are looking for, then we will advise on fit, availability, and the best way to begin.
You can click on the button at the bottom of this page to book your 30-minute free Zoom call, or email info@youngminded.co.uk
Training, Credentials, and Expertise
I am Samantha Locke, MA, LMFT, LPC S, MAC, MBACP (Accred), Founder and Clinical Director of YoungMINDED. I have over 25 years of experience supporting children, teenagers, young adults, adults, and families through a wide range of mental health and learning-related differences, alongside addiction-related risk factors. I also have a particular background from my years of working with military soldiers in supporting male clients of all ages. Especially where there is emotional dysregulation, relationship strain, or co-occurring mental health and substance use risk.
My professional training began with earning a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 1996, followed by earning my Master’s degree in Counselling from Louisiana Tech University in 1999. After completing my Master’s, I undertook several years of supervised postgraduate training as an intern, building my clinical experience while meeting the requirements to practice independently in the USA. This pathway led to my licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and a Licensed Professional Counsellor (LPC). I later earned my endorsement as a Clinical Supervisor (LPC-S). I also hold the Masters Addictions Counsellor (MAC) certification. After moving to the UK in 2021, I completed the requirements to become an Accredited Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP (Accred)).
The Developmental Restoration Approach
I developed the Developmental Restoration Approach through my more than 25 years of clinical work with children, teenagers, adults and families.
It considers how trauma, neurodivergence, chronic stress, addiction, and difficult relationships can interrupt emotional development, leaving important regulation, relational, or practical skills underdeveloped.
Rather than viewing these difficulties simply as problematic behaviour, I explore what may have been missed and help clients build and integrate those capacities at a pace that feels safe and achievable.