Malla Sofia Long

Please note: I am currently unable to take on new face-to-face clients. Please get in touch about my availability for online and telephone sessions.

Hi, I’m Malla (she/her),

I help people get through difficult times and find ways to live a better, more satisfying life. As well as depression and anxiety, I work with self-esteem, identity issues, relationships and loss. I offer a culturally sensitive approach to counselling informed by practice, training and lived experience of spending time in a variety of different countries. 

More than a year of restrictions has changed the way we live. Perhaps the pandemic has brought up issues you were able to ignore in the past, but need dealing with now. Not being able to see loved ones, or trying to navigate relationships that have become strained, can be exhausting. 

ABOUT ME

I am a fully qualified person-centred counsellor/psychotherapist, registered with the BACP. I work with an awareness of trauma and my practice is guided by the core principles of the person-centred and humanistic approaches, mindfulness and polyvagal theory. Before training as a counsellor, I worked in the arts, and in dance- and movement therapy. 

Inclusivity is my core value. I welcome LGBTQ+ clients, as well as people of all ethnicities to work with me.

HOW I WORK

In counselling we work together by looking at your feelings around current and past events, and your behaviours and thinking patterns that may not be serving you well. It is your space and time to explore these areas, at your pace.

Together we aim to find ways of coping that benefit you in the long term, empower you to take charge of your life and enable you to feel good in your own skin. Unlike a chat with a friend, counselling offers support from a person who is impartial and objective, really giving you a space to explore your situation in depth, at your pace.

During the sessions I listen to you carefully and offer my reflections to make sure I really understand what you are experiencing. You can expect me to be accepting, gentle and compassionate as your therapist.

PRACTICALITIES

All sessions last 50 minutes, unless we have arranged otherwise. The standard fee for each session is £60. 

I sometimes have availability to offer a limited number of sessions at a reduced fee - please contact me to discuss this.

I offer face-to-face sessions in Newport, Shropshire, as well as online and telephone counselling to clients nationwide.

FIRST SESSION

Before we meet for your first session I will send you details about the practical side of things, so that you know what to expect and can make a fully informed decision about whether to go ahead with your booking.

In the first session, we start by discussing your situation, your expectations, and reasons for seeking counselling in more detail. I will explain the confidential nature of the work and answer any questions you may have about the process. If you decide to continue working with me, we will discuss your hopes for the frequency and amount of sessions, or simply agree to work in an open-ended way, session by session.

If you are looking for therapy because of a traumatic event, I will go entirely at your pace, and you will not be expected, or asked, to talk about this event in detail in the first session, unless you wish to do so.

If you would like to have a chat first, please give me a call and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. If I cannot take your call, please leave a message with your name and number and a good time to call you back.