Mr Keyong Ma

DPsych Counselling Psychology

Psychologist

10 years of experience

Edinburgh, EH17 8GH

(0 reviews)

10 years of experience

Edinburgh, EH17 8GH

(0 reviews)

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About Mr Keyong Ma

Hello, I am Dr Keyong Ma, also known as Mabin. I am an HCPC registered Counselling Psychologist who has worked across a range of psychological services in the UK, including community based teams, NHS specialist eating disorder services, and neurodevelopmental services.

Since qualifying as a Counselling Psychologist in 2018, I have developed a broad range of clinical experience working with children, adolescents, university students, adults, older adults, and people with additional support needs. I currently work as a Principal Psychologist within the NHS, where my work includes clinical practice, service development, and supporting the delivery of psychologically informed care.

Throughout my career, I have been interested in helping people make sense of their emotional experiences and relational patterns. I believe that people are shaped by their histories, relationships, life experiences, and the ways they have learned to cope with difficult situations. Therapy can provide a space where these experiences can be explored safely and without judgement, allowing people to develop a clearer sense of themselves and the difficulties they are facing.

Many people come to therapy carrying experiences that have become difficult to put into words. These may include anxiety, low mood, trauma, grief, shame, loneliness, relationship difficulties, emotional regulation difficulties, or feeling stuck in patterns that no longer feel helpful. I work collaboratively with clients to explore these experiences, recognise existing strengths, and develop new ways of responding to lifes challenges.

I have worked with a wide range of psychological difficulties, including depression, anxiety, panic attacks, trauma and PTSD, bereavement, eating disorders, ADHD, autism, personality difficulties, interpersonal difficulties, stress, procrastination, and difficulties with motivation and identity.

My therapeutic approach draws from several psychological models, including Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Mentalisation Based Treatment (MBT), and Solution Focused Brief Therapy. I have also completed specialist training in eating disorder treatments, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-E) and Focal Psychodynamic Therapy for Eating Disorders.

Rather than viewing people through a single diagnosis or label, I aim to develop a fuller picture of each persons experiences. This includes exploring how thoughts, emotions, relationships, past experiences, values, and personal circumstances interact with one another. Sometimes therapy involves looking at earlier experiences and how they continue to influence the present. At other times, it focuses on developing practical strategies to manage current difficulties and build confidence in facing everyday challenges.

I believe that therapy works best when it is collaborative. I do not see my role as providing simple answers to another persons life, but as working alongside clients to explore their experiences with curiosity and compassion. Often people already carry important insights about themselves, but these can become difficult to access when they are overwhelmed by stress, self criticism, fear, or painful experiences.

Alongside my clinical work, I have a strong interest in storytelling, photography, literature, cinema, and gaming. I believe stories can help people connect with parts of themselves that are sometimes difficult to express directly. This interest also shapes my approach as a psychologist, where I see each person as having a unique story rather than simply a collection of symptoms.

Having lived abroad and worked across different cultural contexts, I have developed a particular appreciation for the role of culture, family, and identity in shaping emotional wellbeing. I offer therapy in both English and Mandarin and values creating a therapeutic space where people feel respected and able to bring their whole selves.

I continue to teach post-grad alongside my clinical work. I remain committed to learning, research, and exploring how psychological ideas can become more meaningful and useful in peoples everyday lives.

At the heart of my work is a belief that people deserve to feel seen and understood as whole individuals. Therapy can be a place where difficult experiences begin to make sense, where personal strengths can be recognised, and where people can develop a more compassionate relationship with themselves.

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Subspecialties

Counselling psychologist

Areas of expertise

Trauma

Social Anxiety

Relationship Issues

Phobias

Occupational Burnout

Neurodevelopmental Conditions

Low Mood

LGBTQ+ Issues

Eating Disorders

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Anxiety Disorder

Video Consultation

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Mentalisation Based Therapy

Paranoia

Leadership

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Counselling

Mood Disorders

Child & Adolescent Mental Health

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Attachment Disorder

Work Stress

Stress

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Psychodynamic Interpersonal Therapy

Shame & Self-Worth

Mindfulness Focused Techniques

Panic Disorder

Integrative Psychotherapy

Neurodiverse

Anger Management

Low Self-Esteem

Learning Disability

Solution Focused Therapy

Depression

Life Coaching

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Mindfulness

Asperger Syndrome

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

Addiction

Behavioural Addictions

Registered with

Health Care and Professional Council

No. PYL36726

Qualifications

I completed my doctoral training in Counselling Psychology in the UK and have been registered with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist since 2018. But I think qualifications, on their own, only tell a very small part of the story. What shaped me more deeply was what happened after the training rooms, after the lectures, after the placements. Sitting with people in very difficult parts of their lives and slowly learning how much complexity exists underneath what first appears on the surface.

Since qualifying, most of my work has been within the NHS, where I currently work as a Principal Psychologist. And I think one thing that has stayed consistent throughout my career is this curiosity about how psychological work can become more useful, more human, and more connected to the actual realities people live with day to day.

Part of that work involved contributing to the Oxford CBT-E model for eating disorders, which was a meaningful experience because it allowed me to think carefully about how psychological theories actually translate into lived treatment. I also led the development of a digital treatment pathway for children and young people struggling with emotional regulation difficulties. And I think what stayed important throughout that process was trying to create something that people could genuinely engage with, rather than something that simply looked good theoretically.

Over the years, I have worked across a wide range of clinical presentations, including eating disorders, trauma, PTSD, personality difficulties, affective disorders, attachment related difficulties, ADHD, and ASD. But even then, I try to hold those diagnoses lightly. Because two people can arrive with the same diagnosis and still experience themselves, their relationships, and their suffering in completely different ways.

So my approach has always been less about forcing people into fixed categories and more about trying to build a fuller psychological picture of who they are. How they cope. What they learned emotionally growing up. What they avoid. What they long for. What feels unbearable for them internally. What helps them feel safe.

Clinically, my work draws from several different therapeutic models, including Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, CBT, MBT, DBT, and Solution Focused Brief Therapy, alongside additional specialist training in eating disorder treatments. But in practice, therapy rarely feels as neat as theoretical models sometimes suggest. Real people do not divide themselves into separate chapters. Thoughts, emotions, relationships, memory, identity, fear, attachment, physical health, culture, family experiences, they all interact constantly.

And I think because of that, good therapy often requires the ability to tolerate uncertainty for a while. To hold onto details that may initially seem disconnected or unimportant until eventually a clearer picture begins to emerge.

Alongside individual therapy, I also work closely with families, particularly when people are trying to make sense of complex emotional or neurodevelopmental difficulties. Often families are carrying their own confusion, guilt, helplessness, or exhaustion, while trying very hard to support someone they care about. Sometimes what helps most is creating enough space for everyone to begin speaking more openly and thinking together differently.

At the centre of my work is a fairly consistent belief that psychology should feel accessible rather than distant or overly clinical. Human beings are complicated, and emotional suffering rarely fits neatly into predefined boxes. But I also think people are far more adaptive and resilient than they often realise when they first arrive in therapy.

My role is not to position myself as someone who has complete certainty about another person’s life. It is to help people think more clearly about themselves, their relationships, and the stories they have been carrying for years. Because once those stories become more visible and more connected, they often become easier to live with, and easier to understand.