David McMillan

I have space for 1-2 new long term clients and will have space from mid-December to late January for short term work over the summer.

Some key presenting issues I specialise in are trauma, cancer (I am a survivor myself), parenting, creating meaning, purpose and direction in life, Autism and ADHD. I provide supportive, compassionate, and positive general counselling with a focus on older children, teens, adults and families. Many prefer to think of me as a coach who helps them develop skills to cope with and overcome problems and to identify the life that they want for themselves and to work with me on ways to create that life for themselves.

Please check your junk mail account for Talking Works messages or email or call me directly as I want to be able to respond quickly to all your communication with me.

I do not counsel couples or people with Borderline Personality Disorder.

How I can help you

I enjoy helping people generate visions, hopes and goals for the life they want for themselves and then supporting them in moving towards creating that life for themselves. I provide my clients with relational, therapeutic and skills-based counselling around;

• better managing their relationships
• trauma symptoms
• Autism, ADHD and neurodivergence
• coping with cancer; diagnosis, treatment and remission.
• thinking
• life goals
• existential conflicts
• emotional regulation
• stress
• anger
• grief
• anxiety
• interpersonal issues
• depression
• work
• obsessive special interests
• addictions
• school
• studies
• organisational skills
• memory issues
• sexual behaviour

I also provide lots of visual resources of useful strategies and plans to help cope with challenges. I have a strengths focus and my main therapeutic modalities are Schema Therapy, Internal Family Systems, DBT, Solution Focussed Therapy, Existential Therapy and the client centred Motivational Interviewing.

My specialist counselling areas include:

• I am experienced in working with adults, adolescents, older children, and families on a broad range of presenting issues that may be causing you distress.
• Anxiety, depression, grief and loss, adjustment challenges.
• counselling for people who are Asperger’s or Autistic, ADHD or are neurodivergent in other ways. I provide therapeutic and behavioural counselling for families, partners and caregivers of Autistic and other Neurodivergent people. I can assist in the location of community services. I am also the parent of a teenage son who is Autistic and ADHD and a neuro-typical sporty teen.
• supporting people with trauma generally and trauma from sexual abuse specifically.
• counselling people with cancer on journey’s from diagnosis, treatment, remission and beyond. I am a cancer survivor myself.
• I have a long professional history of working with people who learned to cope with their suffering through addictive compulsive behaviours with alcohol, drugs, sexual behaviour, food, relationships, internet use and work.

Counselling experience

I have worked as a counsellor for 19 years and counselled over 2500 people and 350+ Autistic and ADHD people. I have 4000+ hours counselling Autistic people and over 800 counselling hours working with families. I have 25+ years of experience in the education and health sectors; 16 years as a school counsellor, 6 years as a Special Education Teacher, 1 year with CADS (Community Alcohol and Drug Services) in the Waitemata DHB and 2 years at Spectrum Care. I have supervised other counsellors for the past 9 years.

Please note that if you or your loved one is at risk of serious harm to themselves or others then I can only support when a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Community Mental Health Team or private psychiatrist is providing regular ongoing support too.