Judith Samuel (PPP, 1979)

Clinical psychologist

At my newly established comprehensive school the prevailing attitude was that the chance of getting into Oxbridge was poor. The head of sixth form suggested I write lots of essays and lent me two out-of-date admissions booklets. Undeterred I sat the fourth term entrance exam, was interviewed and offered a place to read PPP. I hadn’t appreciated that women at Hertford in 1979 were still such pioneers. The JCR was intimidating when rugger was on TV, the college bar was not a joy to behold and domestic facilities were non-existent. Nonetheless, I had an extraordinarily unforgettable and confidence building experience. In my second year I founded The Alice Society, and, with a Hertford contemporary Helen Morley, made costumes for OUDS and later on my own for OTG (Edinburgh Fringe, 1981).

I studied Psychology because I wanted to be someone to whom GPs referred patients when they didn’t have the time to talk to them. My undergraduate dissertation was published; my earliest postgraduate work was in a residential special school; I became a community psychologist. I fell in love with the work. It provided the opportunity to be creative and make a difference to the lives of many extremely disadvantaged people. I qualified as a clinical psychologist and I have had over 31 years’ experience working in health and social care mostly with people with intellectual disabilities. My principal research and service development interests have been in Intensive Interaction: an approach to facilitating rapport between service users with the most profound and complex intellectual disabilities and their carers. I am now head of a large NHS Psychological Service.

This once shy comprehensive schoolgirl from rural Devon is extremely grateful for the opportunity to succeed in such diverse ways both at Oxford and thereafter – including being a role model for my two daughters.