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Dr. Dina McMillan is a social psychologist with wide-ranging expertise in a number of areas. In addition to individual, couple and family consulting, her work includes program development, training facilitation and the provision of keynote speeches, lectures, and interactive workshops. Her work also includes board memberships, panel advisory positions, and policy and legislative advisory roles. See below to engage her assistance to fulfill your personal and professional requirements.
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Dr. McMillan offers a range of options for assistance through the organization where she is Managing Director, Ethical Strategic Solutions. This offers the opportunity for individuals and organizations to employ her services in a targeted and cost-effective fashion. This structure can be useful for smaller agencies and non-government organizations with limited resources. It also includes options for those who would like to engage Dr. McMillan as a keynote speaker, lecturer or training facilitator, either in-person or virtual, as well as those seeking more involved contracts.
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Terms and conditions including the fee structure are available upon request.
Assistance Options:
Personal - Type 1:
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Some people would like to speak with Dr. McMillan individually, as a couple, or as a family group. Dr. McMillan is contacted for her services by people from around the world, requiring legal considerations to be met. A waiver must be signed by the individual(s) seeking help from Dr. Dina, recognizing these are informational sessions, not therapy. There is a two-hour minimum for consulting sessions, paid in advance. Most sessions are provided virtually. All information remains confidential.
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Examples: Discussion based on questions such as, “What are the signs of emotional abuse that I can apply to my relationship?” “Am I the abuser here?” “Are there ways we can begin moving away from the abusive dynamic in our relationship?”
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Personal - Type 2:
Many people have expressed a desire to interact with Dr. Dina in real time to discuss issues common to personal relationships. She will begin hosting group sessions on Zoom and Microsoft Teams where participants are able to join in live, ask questions and have their concerns addressed. Each session will focus on a particular topic. The specific topic for each session will be posted on this website beginning in November 2023, with times and costs provided. Sessions will be recorded, preserving the anonymity of participants, and available for download at a lower cost.
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Examples: What can I do to reduce my risk of being attractive to an Abuser?
What are some tips to speed my recovery from an abusive relationship? Can our relationship recover from his cheating? Is he really trying to change? How do I help my family understand why I’m rejecting certain romantic offers?
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Brief consultation – small agencies:
Many agencies that provide help directly to the public are drastically underfunded. Many would like suggestions to craft more effective programs to assist their clients. Others would like a brief review of a framework in final development before its official rollout. Dr. McMillan is able to provide her expertise to consider these matters through a short contract designed to give the best information at a reasonable price.
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Examples: What is a simple set of suggestions to help young people identify potentially abusive dynamics in a relationship? When considering an active bystander program, what are some Do’s and Don’ts that can protect the vulnerable without placing the person assisting in danger? Our program will focus on a certain set of behaviors that are associated with abuse. Did we leave out anything crucial?
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Customized staff training – Level 1:
Organizations that deal with the public often have a set of questions about domestic abuse or violence that are consistently repeated by clients. This often occurs even when their organization is not structured around domestic abuse. It can be useful to examine these questions and script suitable responses to be offered by frontline staff. Then clients can be referred to specialist services without the organization becoming liable due to errors in the information offered, or the clients feeling their needs were unrecognized or minimized. Consultations with Dr. McMillan of only a few hours can help develop a script that isolates the most pertinent questions and determines the most effective answers that are consistent with best practice.
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Example: What are the five most common questions received by staff concerning domestic abuse or violence? Are these concerns being responded to, or are staff simply referring them to an external service? Dr. Dina McMillan will work with management to create a sensitive script that will improve the staff ability to offer accurate information without mistakes while reducing the likelihood staff members will be drawn into providing information beyond the scope of their knowledge or position.
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Customized staff training – Level 2:
Some organizations would like to offer training on abusive relationships to their staff. At times this is focused on helping staff with their personal relationships. Other types of training are externally focused, to help with the recognition of abusive dynamics in the relationships of their clients. Many companies and agencies also seek to train their managers to recognize abusive dynamics among staff members (bullying) and improve managers’ ability to recognize staff who are experiencing abuse at home. Each situation is unique and considered when developing the customized training package.
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Examples:
An organization wants to protect its staff and offers lunchtime training seminars to all staff to assist with recognition of abuse at all levels. Or an agency has a primary focus that is highly correlated with abusive relationships: financial counselling, gambling help, healthcare, addiction services, family court, homeless services, local and city councils, law enforcement, the judiciary. They recognize their staff need in-depth training that includes scripted responses (staff training Level 1) as well as understanding of abusive dynamics to enable them to recognize abusive dynamics in clients, better assist victims, and prevent their suggested course of action from being misused by abusive partners.
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Policy:
Many organizations, including government agencies, still focus solely or primarily on response. They offer some assistance to victims after they have been significantly harmed, but give little attention or funding to preventative measures and overall policies that offer protection through prevention. This can be changed with relatively inexpensive education platforms offered widely in high schools, universities, community centers, and through short seminars in companies and government agencies.
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Examples:
Customize the Unmasking the Abuser education program according to the needs of the organization. Offer different levels of education and training based upon position and level of contact with the public, including train-the-trainer workshops to continue and reinforce the primary objectives after the initial offerings are completed. Bias is also a significant harm that should be prevented where possible, recognized when it occurs, and mitigated widely. The Healing the Rift program offers anti-bias training that is interactive and inclusive, informative without being judgmental, and offers insights without creating division or resentment.
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Other Options:
There are many ways to improve understanding of abusive relationships and bias and to protect people from harm.
Contact Dr. Dina McMillan for more information or to make a booking.