Michelle McMillan
Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC)
Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology (MACP)
*Now accepting new clients
* Virtual options
*Individuals 14+, Families & Couples
Before I trained as a counsellor, I spent fifteen years as a certified teacher in specialised school settings. Classrooms full of kids whose needs didn't fit a tidy box. Kids who were anxious, dysregulated, shut down, exploding, or quietly disappearing. I sat in the IEP meetings. I worked alongside parents who couldn't sleep. I watched, up close and for a long time, what actually helps a struggling young person, and what only sounds good on paper.
That's what I bring to counselling now. I work with children, teens, individuals, couples, and families through the parts of life that don't come with a manual: ADHD and anxiety, the shaky early months of parenthood, a separation reshaping the whole household, a teenager you no longer recognize, a marriage that's gone quiet.
How I Work
I draw from Emotion-Focused Therapy, attachment-based approaches, CBT, and strengths-based and person-centred work. In plain language: we pay close attention to how you feel, why those feelings make sense, and what to do with them. The therapies are tools. You are the point.
My practice is trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and client-centred, which mostly means I'll meet you where you are and we'll move at the pace you can sustain.
Experience:
The classroom was rarely just me and the kids. It was multidisciplinary work. I sat with social workers, school psychologists, behaviour specialists, occupational therapists, and parents trying to make a plan that actually held. I learned how to listen across professions, hold the whole family in view, and stay in a hard conversation long enough for something useful to come out the other side.
My academic path reflects the same instinct to look at people from more than one angle:
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Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology (MACP), Yorkville University
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Master of Education, University of Calgary
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Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, Nipissing University
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Diploma in Social Work, Canadore College
Different lenses, same person underneath. I bring all of them into the room.
I'm Especially Right for You If:
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You're a woman, teen, or young adult who feels disconnected from yourself, from your own confidence, identity, and emotional ground, and you want to feel at home in who you are again. This includes young women navigating hard chapters: a relationship rupture, an early pregnancy, or a stretch where the emotions are running you.
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You're a couple who feels more like roommates than partners, and you want to find your way back to friendship, trust, and the version of each other you fell for.
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You're a parent worn thin by a child's behaviour, ADHD, or emotional dysregulation, and you want practical, nervous-system-informed support, not another worksheet.
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You're a family, biological or blended, trying to turn the volume down at home: calmer days, better communication, and the patience to work through loyalty knots, co-parenting tension, or change the kids didn't choose.
Credentials
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Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC), Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association
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Certified Life Coach & Couples Coach
